Author Archives: CigarCraig

by | November 30, 2018 · 6:15 pm

News: First Drew Estate West Coast Barn Smoker Exclusively at TPE 2019

I’m fortunate to get regular news out of Kretek International, who owns Ventura Cigars, and has been partnering with Drew Estate on one of their newest Archetype offerings.  While the TPE show isn’t all about cigars, it’s about tobacco products in general, premium cigar companies do exhibit at the show, and, to the show’s credit, they welcome the media with open arms. Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to get to Vegas for this show and see what it’s all about. I’ll have to see what February vacation time, airfares and hotels look like!  Now, I don’t know that this “West Coast Barn Smoker” at the TPE show is going to be open to the public, the way I read it, it looks like it’s just for attendees of the show, but maybe there will be enough interest amongst the attendees there to make something like that happen! 

 

As the first big tradeshow of the new year, TPE 2019 brings together the entire tobacco industry for three days of networking, learning, exhibiting, and buying. It’s a show aimed at building relationships and partnerships, and honoring every facet of our ever-evolving, always-growing industry.We’re expecting hundreds of brands, thousands of products, and a whole lot of buyers ready to buy. Whether you’re an exhibitor, retailer, or a media partner, we’re hedging our bets that you’ll want to be in Las Vegas and at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the show from Monday, February 11 through Wednesday February 13.

 

As Lady Luck would have it, Drew Estate is bringing their popular Barn Smoker event to TPE. The first ever West Coast Barn Smoker will be held exclusively at TPE, in the cigar lounge during all three days of the show, offering an interactive, entertaining, and educational experience that celebrates the American tobacco industry. The brainchild of Jonathan Drew, these Drew Estate Barn Smoker events bring cigar aficionados, businesses, and brands to the barn level to learn about tobacco growing, processing, and manufacturing. The West Coast Barn Smoker will be a remarkable TPE experience that should not be missed.

 

In addition to adding entertaining events, the Tobacco Media Group (TMG) is betting on success for its exhibitors and attendees by bringing in an exclusive advisory board as they develop this year’s show. Comprised of manufacturers and retailers, the board’s main role is to offer insights and guidance on creating a tradeshow experience that everyone can benefit from. And they’ve brought in industry veteran Dawn Conger to utilize her expertise from years of running IPCPR and other tobacco-related events. The TPE team has further stacked the deck with opportunity for retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, starting with NATO’s Industry Outlook on Monday, February 11 before the show floor opens at 1pm. This important seminar will provide insights on growth and trends, guiding retailers as they later browse in the exhibition space. And a NATO cocktail reception at 4pm will cap the day with time to mingle, talk with colleagues, and toast to industry-wide profits in 2019.

 

Leaving nothing to chance, additional educational seminars will be held throughout the show, offering information about various aspects of the premium tobacco industry, guiding retailers’ growth initiatives and providing insight to exhibitors about current customer demands. These seminars include:

 

• “Driving Profits, Inventory Management, Point of Sales Systems, and Customer Loyalty Programs”
• “Wall Street Update on the Tobacco Industry” 
• And the just-announced “Best Practices Executing Core Tobacco Categories in the C-Store Market” moderated by Angel ABCEDE from TPE’s partner, CSP.

“Everything’s coming up Aces for TPE 2019,” says Jason Carignan, CMO of Kretek, parent company of TMG. “The premium tobacco industry is going to be well-educated and well-represented at the show. We’ve reached beyond the expected, and have brought together a diverse group of speakers and topics, an exclusive Drew Estate West Coast Barn Smoker, and exhibitors committed to showing products that consumers will want. And TPE 2019 buyers stretch across the United States and into international markets, giving exhibitors exceptional reach and opportunity. TPE 2019 is giving everyone a chance to take stock of our marketplace, exchange ideas, explore new profit channels, and celebrate the industry that we all enjoy being a part of. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!”

TPE 2019 takes place from Monday, February 11 through Wednesday, February 13, 2019 in lucky Las Vegas. Whether you’re an exhibitor, retailer, or member of the media, don’t leave your 2019 growth and profits up to chance. Visit www.tobaccoplusexpo.com to reserve your booth or tickets to attend the show.

 

# # #

About TPE: 

Under the banner of Tobacco Media Group (TMG) and its Tobacco Business Magazine, (both owned by Kretek International), Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) is the largest B2B tobacco trade show highlighting the full-spectrum of tobacco, vapor, alternatives and general merchandise products available on the ever-evolving market. TPE 2019 is planning to deliver the industry’s most compelling content, products, and information, and will be held February 11-February 13, 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To learn more about the show, please visit the website: www.tobaccoplusexpo.com. 

 

About NATO

Now in its 16th year, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc. (NATO) is a national trade association organized to strengthen the business interests of all tobacco retailers on a collaborative and individual basis. Headquartered in Minneapolis, it assists its members throughout the country to respond to and stay atop the pulse of tobacco-related legislation on the local, state and federal levels. NATO will be holding its Industry Outlook 2019 event on February 11, 2019. To learn more about NATO, please visit the website: www.natocentral.org. 

 

 

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by | November 27, 2018 · 12:04 pm

News: Mombacho to Ship Casa Favilli Cigars to U.S and Swiss Retailers

Here’s some Tuesday news from Mombacho Cigars.  That reminds me, I’m out of their cigars, gotta resupply. I have a cold right now, and work’d been keeping me busy, so I haven’t been able to get to a local shop that carries them. I know my buddy Kosta at

MOMBACHO CIGARS S.A. TO SHIP CASA FAVILLI

The latest release from Mombacho Cigars S.A. is the first cigar to use a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper.

Mombacho Cigars S.A. announced today that it would begin shipping a limited Pre-Release of Casa Favilli to retailers in the US and Switzerland.

“Casa Favilli is very special to me,” said Claudio Sgroi, President and Master Blender of Mombacho Cigars. “This cigar is the first ever Nicaraguan Broadleaf in the industry. I am proud to say we have done something truly unique.”

Casa Favilli is the third core line cigar in the Mombacho Cigars portfolio and continues the company’s tradition of producing 100% Nicaraguan puros. The blend consists of a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper with binder and filler tobaccos from Jalapa and Condega. The cigar is named in honor of the Mombacho Cigars factory in Granada, Nicaragua.

“This is a unique cigar,” said Robert Rasmussen, Brand Manager of Mombacho Cigars. “Casa Favilli features a wrapper that has never been used before. It is on the full side of the strength spectrum and, in true Mombacho fashion, is packed with flavor.”

Casa Favilli will be available in 12-count boxes and in three sizes:
Robusto – 5 x 50 – MSRP $10.95
Toro – 6 x 52 – MSRP $11.95
Torpedo – 5 ½ x 52 – MSRP $12.95

The initial pre-release of Casa Favilli will consist of approximately 150 boxes of each vitola and will ship to retailers during the first week of December. The cigar will be in regular production starting in 2019.

ABOUT MOMBACHO CIGARS
Mombacho Cigars S.A. is a Canadian owned company established in 2006 that entered the US market in 2013. The international interest in Mombacho has grown rapidly and Mombacho cigars are now available in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago. Mombacho produces all of its products at its factory in Granada, Casa Favilli, where over 30 members of the Mombacho Family work. For more information contact Robert Rasmussen, Brand Manager of Mombacho Cigars, at rob@mombachocigars.com.  mombachocigars.com | f/t/i: @MombachoCigars

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by | November 25, 2018 · 10:39 am

Thanksgiving Week Cigars, Partagas, Aladino, Ashton, etc.

It was a long week with a holiday that included traveling and working Black Friday for the first time in 29 years (I might have worked one in there somewhere, but it was a rare occasion)! It was also unseasonably cold this week, so between that and my schedule, I didn’t take my usual evening walks and opted to relax on the porch after a long day instead. So I don’t have anything really new to report on this week. The cigars I smoked were all cigars I’ve enjoyed in the past. There was an Umbagog from Dunbarton Tobacco ad Trust in the mix, a great smoke which I adore. This is on my “goto” list with the likes of the Nica Rustica and Cornelius & Anthony Señor Esugars when I want cigar perfection. I had a La Gloria Coleccoin Reserva in there too, another recent favorite. This time I went big with the Presidente, despite the cold, the porch was tolerable and the cigar was fantastic.

 

I try to smoke something special on holidays, so when we finally got home on Thanksgiving after spending a nice day in New Jersey with family, I lit up an Ashton VSG Belicoso No.1 from a box I’ve had for a year and half or more. The Belicoso No.1 is 5¼ x 52 and is wrapped in a Sumatra wrapper grown on a private estate in Ecuador, which is ironic considering Ecuador is typically always cloud-covered, at least where the Ecuador Connecticut tobacco is grown is, yet it’s called Virgin Sun Grown. It’s a Dominican cigar, made by Fuente, but it’s not a mild cigar by any stretch of the imagination, it’s full flavored and on the high side of medium. This like has been around since 1999, and is another one of those classic cigars that has stood the test of time, and I think should be a staple in every humidor.

 

Friday I got home from the Black Friday craziness and had an Aladino Maduro Toro from JRE Tobacco.  This is a box pressed 6″ x 50 cigar that was originally exclusive to 2 Guys Smoke Shop, I assume it’s in wider distribution now. Side note, it was a year ago today that my wife, Macha and I went up to 2 Guys in Salem, NH and witnessed the 400th episode of The Cigar Authority. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year!  Anyway, this Aladina Maduro is less “maduro” tasting than I expected or remembered from smoking it before, which is OK, because it’s still very good. It harkens back to the old Camacho Corojos from years ago a little, as it is all Corojo with a San Andrés wrapper. It really was an enjoyable cigar, although I was expecting it to be more along the lines of what one expects from a San Andrés wrapped cigar. This was from the original release, I ordered a couple of each of the toro and lancero to try when they came out, I think I have a lancero left still. That will have to wait until warmer weather, I avoid lanceros in the colder months usually.

 

Last night I got home and just had it in my head that I wanted to smoke a Partagas Legend for some reason. I happened to have the 6¼” x 54 Toro Leyenda on hand, which is my preferred size anyway, although a robusto would have been fine (it doesn’t come in a robusto). This cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, the Honduran Olancho San Augustine Binder that General uses on a lot of cigars lately (they, no doubt, bought the entire crop and had a great yield a few years back! it seems to show up in just about every new cigar description), and Dominican fillers. I sat down and lit this up on the porch with the Flyers game on the iPad, which got turned off after the first period because it was so bad, and threatened to ruin the great cigar. You know how José Blanco says that sitting next to an Asshole will ruin a great cigar?  well, watching a bad hockey game can do it too. I really like this cigar, although it’s not necessarily a cheap date at around $14 each, but still a very good cigar.

 

That’s about all for today, I hope everyone had a safe and satisfying Thanksgiving if you are in the US and celebrate such things! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 19, 2018 · 7:25 am

Accessory Review: Govee WiFi Smart Hygrometer/Thermometer

In August I reviewed the Govee Bluetooth Smart Hygrometer/Thermometer, which is a handy item, but I really wanted more from it. Recently the WiFi version has become available, so I jumped on it and picked one up to test out side by side with the Bluetooth version. With the bluetooth version, I found that I had to be in the same room as the unit, which is fine if I wanted to know the conditions inside a given humidor without opening it up and looking in, or get alerts if things are going out of whack. This is all well and good, and the historical information that the unit logs is nice to have also. I did wish for a  longer range solution, then along comes the WiFi version. The only difference is a small WiFi symbol in the lcd screen, as noted in the picture. The free app is the cool part, and I can only speak to the iOS version, but I was able to add both units, and I have no reason to believe that there’s no reasonable limit to the number of units you could add, assuming you name them differently in the set up.

I did fumble a bit with the setup directions, they weren’t quite as concise as they could have been. I had to read through the Q&A to find the directions to connect to my home WiFi, but once I did find it, it couldn’t have been easier. I would suggest that the company might put documentation on their website as a resource as well as I actually looked there before reading further into the printed manual.  If the documentation is the only downside I’m not going to complain, I’ve had other WiFi devices that I’ve given up on using because they were too much of a pain in the ass (PITA) to set up, which is a shame, because that particular item would have been far more useful than just monitoring. I digress.

Some technical details:

  •  Easy Check: big LCD screen, WiFi supported, check on App anywhere and specific time. 
  •   High Accuracy: advanced Swiss SHT30 sensor. Accuracy of ±0.5°F on temp and ±1% on hum (Temperature Range: 14°F – 140°F/-10°C – 60°C, Humidity Range: 0 – 99%)
  •   7X24h Monitoring: Sensor automatically monitoring temp & hum., records real-time data on device and cloud
  •   Alert Settings: allow settings your desired values and automatically send alerts to your phone at once if exceeds.
  •   Data Tracking: 32,000 records in device (about 20 days), two-year data on cloud, NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE
  •   ALL IN ONE: Govee Home App supports for more sensors connected at the same time, check all on hands via App!

For ease of use, this gets a thumbs up, and the unit appears to be reasonably accurate, compared to both its Bluetooth sibling and other digital hygrometers. Also, the cigars in the humidors that the hygrometers are in smoke fine, the ultimate test, in my opinion. As far as price goes, the WiFi version is almost twice the price of the Bluetooth version, which is a bit steep, but the functionality is worth the extra cash. Are there cheaper items on the market that do the same thing? Sure there are. Maybe they don’t provide the data logging that these units do, nor do they have a family of other home automation products that work with the same app like lighting and doorbells and other fun stuff if you’re into that.

That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | November 18, 2018 · 11:18 am

La Palina, BG Meyer and 1881 Perique Cigars

I was just grabbing random cigars this week, although a bit of a theme seemed to develop.  I had a few cigars with what I would call glassine paper decorative wrapping, and two with names referencing the 1880s. Strictly coincidence, But one of those things I noticed as I went back over the weeks smokes. As I mentioned in Friday’s post highlighting the latest podcast episode, I had the pleasure of meeting up with the professor, José Blanco at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA, and smoked  an EP Carillo Seleccion Oscuro Especial No. 6.  The cigar was delicious, and the company was  exceptional as usual. It also snowed this week, too early in my opinion!  We’ve had winter weather in autumn, I have the porch winterized, but I can’t get my propane heaters working, so I have to figure out how to get at least one of those working. I miss summer!  Anyway, allow me to highlight a couple of cigars I smoked this week.

 

Last year I really enjoyed the La Palina El Año 1896 Oscuro.  Since I last smoke this cigar in 2017 they have moved the production from PDR in the Dominican Republic to Placencia’s factory in Honduras. I believe the original had a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and filler, while the new version has a Costa Rican Oscuro wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s box pressed, and the cigar I smoked, and I smoked two this week, was a 5″ x 50 (maybe 52, hard to tell with a box press) Robusto. Basically this is a different cigar from the original El Año 1896 Oscuro from last year (and allegedly the 120 Anniversary I smoked a week or two ago!) I enjoyed it, it was a very good cigar in its own right, but in my mind I wanted to compare it to the cigar I smoked previously in the same bands and presentation and it wasn’t the same to my recollection, and how could it be? I don’t want to be negative, because this version of the El Año 1896 Oscuro is an exceptional cigar, if you never smoked the former version, you are going to be very happy smoking this cigar. Either way, you can ‘t go wrong with this cigar!

 

The other cigar with the glassine paper wrap that happened to smoke this week was a BG Meyer Standard Issue Toro.  This was a Camacho “Board of the Bold” line, which was something Davidoff had going with brand ambassadors Mike Ditka, Matt Booth and Rob Weiss, the last of which headed the BG Meyer line. Rob Weiss was the guy behind the HBO show Entourage. There’s some debate over whether this line is even available anymore or not, I tend to believe it’s discontinued,  I’m sure there are still cigars floating around in the wild. This cigar was probably an IPCPR sample from a few years back, and I did smoke this back in 2015 and liked it. This one burned very well, had a nice, savory flavor and was quite enjoyable. I’d say this aged well, if you can find these around snatch them up and smoke them, even better if you find a close out deal. Everything I see points to this being a Nicaraguan Puro made in Honduras.

 

Friday night I got home from work late and went looking for a short smoke, and spied a short, squat torpedo from Tabacalera Incorporada in the Philippines, an 1881 Perique Torpedito. The 1881 Perique line is really interesting, it uses Philippine and Louisiana Perique tobacco and is rolled in their factory in Manila, not the usual combination one finds in the premium cigar market. Perique is generally used in pipe tobacco, and it’s usually on the strong side by itself. so the combination of the Filipino tobacco and the Perique throws a bunch of red flags for me, but in the case of the 1881 Perique, it comes together to make a really tasty cigar!  Usually when I have a cigar this late, I’m up all night having weird dreams, this time wasn’t the case for whatever reason. I couldn’t find a size listed, but it was probably a 4″ x 54ish torpedo and burned perfectly, and had only spend maybe two hears in the humidor, enough to be properly rested, but not enough that I would consider it “aged”.  It was smooth, had a savoryness, with a hint of a sweetness, and some spice from the Perique. I have some of the Maduro and “Bold” floating around that I need to revisit now that smoking this little Torpedito.  I’m not sure how widely these are distributed in the US, I know that Daughters and Ryan is the distributor, and I also know that Tabacalera sells them directly on their website.  If you are in the mood for something different and interesting, these are worth a try, don’t be scared off by the perique or  Filipino tobaccos, they work well together! Don’t forget to keep an eye on CigarProp.com and Amazon for the new, super-cool CigarProp ashtrays when they become available (as seen in the picture)!

 

That’s all for today, it’s a day off and the end of the week starts the busy season!  I need to try to line up some goodies to give away for the holidays! Any manufacturers, brand owners or retailers can reach out to me at craig@cigarcraig.com if you’d like to get in on CigarCraig’s annual holiday giveaways! They always generate a lot of interest!  I know the FDA doesn’t allow companies to give away cigars, but I’ve been known to give away my own cigars from time to time! I have workarounds!  Anyway, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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