I did some wandering through the humidors this week and came across a few older cigars that I smoked, but first I selected a cigar that came from the TPE show, a Cubanacan Habano Toro. Interestingly, Eddie Tarazona introduced me to Cubanacan at a Delaware Cigar Festival back around 2013 or 14, I guess (as will be a recurring theme in this post, dates are fuzzy for me today). I’m not sure what his involvement was at the time. Lawrence Miltenberger, who is a principle at Cubanacan, was also at that Delaware Fest, but with another company, so I’ve known him for a while, so when I saw him at the TPE, he laid a few samples on me to try.… Continue reading
EditorialCategory Archives
El Titan de Bronze Grand Reserva Cigar and Some Interesting Links
When we were in Miami back in September, we met up with Kevin and Jess of CigarProp fame at El Titan de Bronze and Sandy gave us a great tour and spent a lot of time with us. I had bought their corona sampler, which consists of an El Titan De Bronze Gold Corona, MyWay Dark Habano Corona, Grand Reserve Maduro Corona, Redemption Maduro Corona and the Redemption Sun Grown Corona. I selected the Grand Reserve Maduro Corona, which measured 5-5/8″ x 48.… Continue reading
Platinum Nova Congress Cigar
Before I get into the cigar, I’ve found myself noticing maybe people getting a little antsy on the Facebook groups and either providing bad information or berating people for doing things “wrong” with their cigars. In the spirit of positivity and to be helpful and educational, I’ve offered my advice where I see fit. A few examples: one poster removes the wrappers (cello) in his humidor because having plastic next to his cigars doesn’t seems natural. This was offered in what I took as a condescending way. This was my gentle response: “it’s not plastic, it’s cellophane, which is made from wood fiber and is water permeable. I figure if cigar makers are ok putting cellophane on the cigars then who am I to second guess them? If it’s an aesthetic thing and you like the look of naked cigars in your humidors, that’s another story, but there’s absolutely no functional reason not to store cigars in cellophane long term.” In another group a gentleman posted a photo of a cigar with a severe runner. He was lambasted for not touching it up, told that he was smoking in the wind, ripped up and down for what he did wrong, and he defended himself, said he tried to touch it up. I offered the following “Sometimes the Ligero isn’t placed right in the bunch and the cigar doesn’t burn right, it happens and it isn’t the poor guys fault for not touching up his burn, being in the wind or not rotating his cigars in the humidor or having bad karma or whatever. More positivity folks!” Hopefully these replies were helpful and taken in the spirit in which they were offered. When I see bad information or piling on for the wrong reasons I have trouble keeping my mouth shut.… Continue reading
The Current Retail Environment and My Green Cigar Day Selection
We have entered odd times. We are seeing businesses closed for the public safety, and a lot of our cigar stores are affected. I’ve been in touch with a few earlier this week, and already things have changed. On Monday the four or five shops I spoke with were business as usual, and by yesterday, they had closed the lounges, and were only open for grab-and-go purchases. Many had gone to a call ahead with curb-side pick-up, those that offer online ordering continue to do so. These are small businesses, they can’t afford to close, it would be devastating. Obviously, this extends much further than our little corner of the world, this is happening in all areas if life. I’ve been out of work since November, and the job market now looks bleaker than it did before. I’m, at least, in the same position I’ve been in for the past several months. I’m hoping for an extension in unemployment benefits, but I’m not counting on it. With any luck in a few weeks things will return to normal. I would say if you have the means and you need cigars, or food, or supplies, buy them from a local small business. If you don’t have a local shop, there are several great retailers who advertise on my page who you can patronize. … Continue reading
Tobacco Plus Expo 2020 Experience and Some Cigar Highlights
I’m back from Las Vegas and the Tobacco Plus Expo, and I had a very positive experience. This was a large expo, probably the size of the IPCPR ( now PCA) show, with tobacco only taking up 30%ish of the floor space. The nice thing about the way they had it set up was that they had it segregated, with red carpet surrounding the Tobacco part, and blue carpet around the Vape/Alternative part, which was larger. I’m working on a video walk through of both, but on the first couple exploratory forays into “the blue”, I found myself running back to the safety of the red
carpet both times. I kept hearing Sean Connery’s voice from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade saying “we’re pilgrims in an unholy land”. It wasn’t that unholy, but it was weird seeing all the hemp, CBD and “glassware”. From a cigar purist standpoint, it was strange. Disposable e-cigs seemed to be a trend I didn’t know about, I’m not sure I like the environmental impact of them though, I’ll have to see how to dispose of them. Tossing in the trash doesn’t seem right. The Vape/Alt side was where all the flashy booths, models handing out literature and hype and excitement was. I felt like a fish out of water.… Continue reading
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