AJ Fernandez had a lot of product out on the trade show floor this year, and a good amount of it was on display in other booths. But Frankie Santos tells us the Ramon Allones on display in their booth is the most exciting blend they’re introducing this year. It’s a very limited cigar because […]
IPCPR 2018: Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
It’s always a fun sitting down with Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust at IPCPR. And it was a very good show for the company again this year. After some hot hair talk, we get into the new extension to Todos Las Dias, a 6 x 46 “thick lonsdale” with more of an up-front […]
IPCPR 2018: Hoyo de Monterrey
We talk to Ed Lahmann again in the Hoyo de Monterrey section of the General Cigar booth, and he tells us about the third installment of La Amistad, the Black line. As with the previous La Amistad lines, this is also an AJ Fernandez blend. The star of the La Amistad Black’s three country blend […]
IPCPR 2018: Punch
Up next, Ben talks to Ed Lahmann about the new Punch Diablo, which is another collaboration with AJ Fernandez. It’s a new move for Punch, as you might have guessed from the name, there’s no shortage of ligero involved. Nicaraguan and Honduran Habano ligeros, to be precise. The focus was on body with this blend, […]
IPCPR 2018: Diesel
Ben, aka Bullshark takes the lead to talk Diesel developments with Justin Andrews as the booth tour continues. The new Diesel Whiskey Row begins with a boutique bourbon company named Rabbit Hole. Or more actually, their emptied bourbon barrels, which were shipped to AJ Fernandez’s factory in Nicaragua. Justin is quick to point out that […]
IPCPR 2018: Macanudo
Steve Abbot introduces us to the new M by Macanudo as we enter into Macanudo territory. It’s the first flavored Macanudo General has produced, and that flavor is coffee. Apparently there have been a lot of requests for an infused Macanudo, but until this year they just didn’t have the right blend for it. They […]
IPCPR 2018: CAO
Our General Cigar booth tour continues with Rick Rodriguez in the CAO section. Rick tells us about the new CAO Nicaragua in this interview. The goal was to create a mellower, complex Nicaraguan cigar that everyone can enjoy, not just the bold spice bomb that is so common with cigars produced there. On the subject […]
IPCPR 2018: Cohiba
Sean Williams was bringing sexy back this year in the Cohiba section of the General Cigar booth. And sexy, it turns out, is named Spectre. Sean describes Spectre as his ultimate cigar geek project, that started with finding a 22 year old tercio (palm bark-wrapped bale) of piloto cubano in the factory. The blend includes […]
IPCPR 2018: Partagas
The next stop in the General Cigar booth was the Partagas section. Andres gave us the scoop on the packaging design updates (the blends remain the same) and the new Partagas Legend, which features a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper, a Honduran binder, and Piloto Cubano filler.
IPCPR 2018: La Gloria Cubana
We got our tour of the General Cigar booth started with a stop at the La Gloria Cubana section. Yuri Guillen was ready with a big smile and details about the new “white box” La Gloria Cubana Esteli. It’s a budget friendly cigar retailing from $4.99 to $6.99 and features a blend of Nicaraguan and […]