It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are so many cigars these days with conspiratorial and counter-culture themes. All things tobacco have become the target of choice for politicians looking to score easy points with their consitutents. People who are only to happy to support bans on a legal product, even in places they […]
La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Maduro
One of the more interesting things to come out of the 2011 trade show was the new La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Maduro. Or more accurately, the packaging for new Air Bender Maduro. You know, the humidor box that’s so unique, it has it’s own name? Of course I’m talking about the “Casa de Tobaco” […]
Interview with Steve Ysidron of Savinelli
When the name Savinelli is mentioned in the smoke shop, the first thing that comes to peoples’ mind is pipes. You can hardly blame them, Savinelli has been making pipes since Achille Savinelli Sr. opened up shop in Milan back in 1876. After a 135 years of doing something, you do build a bit of […]
Leon Jimenes No. 4 Maduro
Up for review this week is a cigar that’s anything but new, and conspicuously petite in the face of the ongoing large ring gauge craze, the Leon Jimenes Corona No. 4 Maduro. You might wonder why, with all the new releases hitting the shelves this time of year I’d decide to burn something that’s been […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 8
Labor day just passed, and to quote a popular line from the movie Office Space, “I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be.” As such, instead of my usual review, I dusted off a Week in smoke that has been laying dormant added a few recent […]
EP Carrillo Maduro Encantos
One of the most popular cigars produced by La Gloria Cubana during Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s tenure was the Serie R maduro. To this day, it’s hard to find a shop that doesn’t carry them, and they continue to sell well. Given his enduring success with those, it was really only a matter of time until he […]
Winston Churchill Lancaster
Back in May, the good people at Davidoff surprised me with a sample tin of the latest Winston Churchill line extension, the diminutive Lancaster. I have fond memories of the larger cigars in the line, at one point the Blenheim ranked pretty highly on my list of favorite smokes. More recently, I’ve had the similarly […]
Jon Huber of Crowned Heads at the Chattanooga Tweetup
I ran a little short on time for the regular review, but have no fear, I have something even better for you this week: An interview of Jon Huber of Crowned Heads. The video that follows was recorded this past weekend at the Chattanooga Tweetup, and Jon speaks at length about selecting a factory to […]
Perdomo Reserve Limited Cameroon Edition Petit Corona
This week I continue to avoid the trendy big rings, instead checking out a brand new old Perdomo. Brand new in the sense that the Perdomo Reserve Limited Edition Petit Corona was introduced at this year’s IPCPR trade show, but old in the sense that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Perdomo Reserve […]
Tatuaje Black Label Petite Lancero
I’m back from IPCPR in Las Vegas (perhaps you noticed a mention of it or two in the past few weeks?) and it’s time to get back to doing what we do the other fifty-or-so weeks a year: reviewing cigars. But it’s a little too soon to break into the random samples I picked up […]