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 […]
IPCPR 2017: Toraño
While making the rounds in the General Cigar booth we stopped to have a word with Jack Toraño about the colorful world of Toraño cigars. He shows us the new Yellow and Blue additions to the Vault line. The Blue features and Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf Binder and a three country filler that […]
IPCPR 2017: La Gloria Cubana
This we talked to Yuri Guillen about the latest developments with La Gloria Cubana. If he looks familiar to you, you might be remembering him from part two of our General Cigar Factory Tour from earlier this year. Yuri is the production manager for the vast General Cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. At IPCPR […]
IPCPR 2017: Partagas
Andres Maturen tells us this year at IPCPR 2017 that Partagas is relaunching the 1845 line, which was originally released back in 2012. (The original 1845 was a big hit with Jerry and Charlie back in the day.) He shows the new Clasico, Extra Fuerte and Extra Osucro. The relaunch is more than just a […]
IPCPR 2017: Macanudo
We get started on our 2017 IPCPR tour of General Cigar’s offering with Steve Abbot, Brand Manager for Macanudo. He tells us about the new Macanudo Inspirado Black and Inspirado White, which follow after the Inspirado Orange with was launched in Europe back in 2015, and then last year in the U.S. The Orange is […]
Cohiba Blue Robusto
This week I lit up the latest addition to the Cohiba brand, the more accessibly priced Cohiba Blue. When Ben and I were down in the Dominican Republic touring the General Cigar facilities we got to see the boxes being painted in the factory. The process was fascinating to watch and I’ve been looking forward […]
Partagas Ramon y Ramon Maxim Grande
There are a number of reasons to review the Partagas Ramon y Ramon. To begin with, we haven’t yet. That is generally reason enough. Then there’s the whole regenerated vintage tobacco thing. That’s also interesting. But the real reason I’m lighting up the Ramon y Ramon this week is that I won a box on […]
General Cigar Factory Tour 2017 Part 2
Now that we’ve explored the farm, and gotten an in-depth look at the long, involved process tobacco goes through on it’s way to becoming a cigar, it’s time for photogenic part of the tour. The part everyone thinks about when they hear “cigar factory tour” – the bunching, rolling and packaging of the finished product. […]
General Cigar Factory Tour 2017 Part 1
After a day spent taking in the farm atmosphere, we picked up on the next leg of the journey for tobacco. After it spends time hanging in the curing barn it’s off to the factory. There’s still a lot in store for the leaves before they are rolled into handmade premium cigar. After a short […]
A Trip to the Farm with General Cigar 2017
Just over two weeks ago (it seems like so much longer than that now), Ben and I spent several days touring General Cigar’s facilities in the Dominican Republic. Our first stop was the farm. It makes sense, that’s where it all begins. To kick things off, Régis Broersma, the president of General Cigar officially welcomed […]