Jose Blanco was one of the people we missed at this year’s busy trade show, and that’s something that has been bothering me ever since. So when I heard he was going to be in the area doing a blending seminar, I made a point to grab my handy GoPro and brave Atlanta traffic to […]
CAO Amazon Basin
The popular CAO Amazon Basin has returned after a hiatus of several years, and I made a point not to miss it this time around. According to CAO, the supply of the blend’s key component, Amazon-grown Braganca tobacco is only harvested once every three years. As you can imagine, that makes it pretty difficult to […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 105
So I was working on the last Week in Smoke and it occurred to me, I smoked a lot of cigars on vacation. Like two weeks worth of interesting cigars. Which does check out, since I was gone for two weeks. And after a brief, sitcom-esque flashback to me smoking cigars in a much warmer […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 104
It’s good to be back. If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably seen a lot of pictures of exotic locales interspersed with pictures of cigars that rarely show up in one of my Weeks in Smoke. I was on vacation in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Bali) and I made a point to browse […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 103
If there’s a theme for this Week In Smoke, it’s a mix of new cigars and relaxation. Heavy on the relaxation. Maybe a little procrastination too. It’s been a busy summer, and I for one am ready to welcome a less hectic season of bourbon and heavier beers. Sure, I drink both year round, but […]
The FDA Update with Frank Herrera – 8/30/16
In the latest episode of The FDA Update with Frank Herrera we talk about the August 16th order issued by the judge in the case Philip Morris brought against the FDA. The opinion rendered applies to the guidance documents the FDA provided with regard to Substantial Equivalence (not the actual deeming regulations), and looks to […]
IPCPR 2016: John Drew Brands
After hoofing it around Drew Estate’s planet-sized booth with Pedro, we climbed to the top of the bridge at the heart of the booth to talk to Jonathan Drew about his new venture, John Drew Brands. JD tells us that the next step for him doesn’t involve leaving Drew Estate behind, it’s a matter of […]
IPCPR 2016: Drew Estate
Jonathan Drew can be a hard guy to track down at IPCPR, and a tour of the all the new products in the Drew Estate booth would be difficult to accomplish without numerous interruptions from customers and fans. Everyone’s looking for a few minutes of Jonathan’s time. So we took the pragmatic approach this year, […]
IPCPR 2016: Foundation
Nick Melillo was back this year with a colorful new booth, new Foundation cigar lines and of course, new insights into the world of tobacco. We got started with The Upsetters. Nick has been a long time fan of reggae music and Jamaican tobacco, and he also has a history of working with Nicaraguan tobacco. […]
IPCPR 2016: White Hat (HR)
As the show was winding down on the last day we dropped by the White Hat booth for a quick chat with Spencer Drake about what’s new with HR. Of course the first thing that is new since the last trade show is White Hat handling distribution of HR, which means that the original line […]