In the Mombaco booth this year, Claudio tells us about the second release of Cosecha, Cosecha 2013. It’s a proper vintage, a Nicaraguan puro that’s made exclusively with one year’s harvest of tobacco. All the tobacco from these cigars was harvested in 2013, as the name indicates. Because the cigars age so long, he tells […]
IPCPR 2018: Gurkha
We dropped by the Gurkha booth again this year, and Carlos Llaca Torano took us on a tour of the latest cigars. We started with the Ghost Gold extension to the popular Ghost line. It sports and Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper and has a pigtail and closed foot. Next we look at the Marquesa, which […]
IPCPR 2018: Room 101
After a quick stop to enjoy some refreshing chicken in the Room 101 booth, we talked to Matt Booth about arcade games for enjoyment purposes, cigar time travel, and products for people to observe, consume, and purchase (in any order). Those products included The T., Farce, the Connecticut extension of Farce, the full-bodied Hit and […]
IPCPR 2018: Joya de Nicaragua
This year is Joya de Nicaragua 50th Anniversary, and they’re celebrating it with several new products. We talk to Juan Martínez about Cinco Décadas, the latest addition to their Tribute Series of cigars. It’s a very limited cigar produced using some of the oldest tobacco they have in their factory, and with the oldest vitola […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 115
We’re coming up on my favorite time of the year for cigars- trade show season. It’s also a really busy time. A lot of back and forth emails discussing appointment times on the floor of the trade show. That and increased activity with other projects haven’t left a lot of time to set up a […]
Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva Presidente TAA 2018
For those of you who like dates, anniversaries, and milestones, I have some relevant fun facts for you in thise week’s cigar review. As noted in the press release (more of that below), the introduction of the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva Presidente TAA 2018 coincides with the 50th anniversary of both Joya de […]
Drew Estate Florida Sun Grown (FSG) Robusto
One of my favorite interviews at last year’s IPCPR trade show was talking about Florida Sun Grown tobacco with Jeff Borysiewicz. This is a passion project, and I could tell. Especially when he showed us the tobacco he brought with him. If you want the full scoop on the FSG, the process, see the actual […]
Curivari Onassis 550
I’ve been meaning to write up a review on the Curivari Onassis for months now, but then I get distracted by something like a freshly open beer and I forget. Usually that means smoking it without bothering to take notes or pictures. But not this time. As much as I’d like to just light it […]
Fratello Navetta Discovery Robusto
There are a lot of jokes you have to acknowledge up front when reviewing a cigar whose name translates to “shuttle”, and that’s made by a former employee of NASA. Things like, “does it take a rocket scientist to blend a good cigar?” Or perhaps, “I’m worried this cigar will be so strong it’ll send […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 114
It’s been a busy week, but not so busy that I didn’t light up an interesting assortment of cigars. And since it’s been a minute and a half since I did one… It’s once time again for another issue of Brian’s The Week In Smoke. In case this is your first Week in Smoke, be […]