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: 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 […]
IPCPR 2018: Gran Habano
George Rico catches us up on the latest Gran Habano news, including the new medium-bodied Blue in Green, the seriously aged Gran Reserva #5 2012, and the La Coleccion De Elegancia Corojo No. 5 Maduro, which is presented in a way reminiscent of the old Cuban sampler boxes from the 1980’s and 90’s.
IPCPR 2018: Mombacho
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: 22 Minutes with Pete Johnson
No trade show coverage is complete without chat with Pete Johnson at his usual place behind the bar in the Tatuaje booth. This year we lucked out and caught Pete on the first day, which was the day following the premier of his passion project, Hand Rolled: A Film About Cigars. So we get started […]