In this video Nabil Sabbah gives us the latest on what’s happening with Elogio cigars this year. And what’s happening is the Excentrico No 5. It will be a regular production series that is a recreation of the popular Excentrico No 2. When it arrives in brick and mortar shops sometime in August you will […]
IPCPR 2016: Fratello
Omar de Frias is one of the nicest guys in the cigar industry, and possibly one of the smartest. Not many in the industry can say they worked for NASA. Or for that matter, have played professional basketball. With such an impressive resume, you might expect the Fratello brand to be just a successful man’s […]
IPCPR 2016: Double Shot Energy Cigar
If you’ve been following my activity on Stogie Review over the years, you know I have a weakness for anything interesting, unsual and/or innovative. And at this year’s IPCPR trade show, I found something that is all three- the Double Shot Energy Cigar. It’s billed as the cigar equivalent of an energy drink like Red […]
IPCPR 2016: La Palina
La Palina is in it for the long haul, that much was clear to me after I visited their booth at this year’s trade show. Despite the looming FDA menace, Bill Paley seemed optimistic, even excited about the future for La Palina. It probably has something to do with six months of planning around the […]
IPCPR 2016: Royal Agio
While at the tradeshow we made a point of dropping by the Royal Agio section of the Drew Estate booth to talk to Boris Wintermans about what’s new this year. He spoke of the success Agio has had with Balmoral and talked about the new Balmoral XO vitolas, the Gran Toro, the Corona, and the […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 102
The time has really flown by the past couple of weeks, and for a good part of it I was smoking cigars and drinking unusual beers in the exotic and mysterious places like Alabama and Oregon. I was also a guest on a local radio show talking about beer. Everything else is hazy. Imagine me […]
Gurkha Vintage Selection Shaggy Toro
When I was writing up last week’s Week In Smoke, I was a little surprised to discover we have never reviewed the Gurkha Vintage Selection Shaggy. I know it’s a cigar that I’ve talked about with people a number of times over the years, and people have had generally positive things to say about it. […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 101
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 advised that it covers many (though not necessarily all) of the cigars I’ve smoked in the past week (or the past month, or however long it has been since the last issue), […]
Brian’s The Week In Smoke, Issue 100
Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about what I should smoke for the hundredth edition of Brian’s The Week In Smoke. The problem is the more you think about it, the harder it gets. It’s like that with anything though, you overthink it, and a simple task becomes an ominous burden. Knowing the […]
Stogie Review on Beer Guys Radio
Brian and Sean at the mic. It was a long week, so I did some napping between segments. This week I did something new, I went on a local radio show to talk about cigar and craft beer pairings. That’s right, traditional over-the-air waves radio. I was a guest on an hour long show called […]