Fourth news item today, craziness! Juan and Bill at Cubariqueño cigars keep coming out with great cigars, and one think I like is that they stick with a limited number of sizes and the sizes they make are ones I really like! Toros, Corona Gordas and Lanceros! I’m looking forward to giving the Themis Lancero a try! I suppose I should make one of their cigars my cigar of the year so I can make it into the press material! 🙂
Cubariqueño Cigar Co. announces the release of the Protocol Themis Lancero for the 2018 IPCPR. This is the company’s third lancero offering. Following the success of their prior lanceros which both took #1 Cigar of the year for 2016 on Cigar Federation and 2017 on Tiny Tim’s Cigar World, the company says they will continue with more lancero releases.
The cigars are being produced at Erik Espinosa’s LaZona Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.
The Themis Lancero will be available in a 7 1/2 X 38 format in boxes of 10.
The blend consists of a Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.
The Themis has been extremely successful for the company, with the Themis Toro giving the company their second #1 Cigar of the Year on Developing Palates 2017 Top 25 Cigars, along with placings on 12 other 2017 Top 25 lists across the collective cigar media outlets.
MSRP is set at $10.50 per cigar & $105.00 / box of 10.
Cigars are available now on BerkeleyHumidor.com and are shipping to retailers on July 1, 2018. Cubariqueño will be located inside the Espinosa Cigar booth this year at the 2018 IPCPR trade show.
Comments Off on News: Cubariqueño Cigar Co. Protocol Themis Lancer Debuts at 2018 IPCPR
Some Monday news from the folks at Cubariqueño Cigar Co.
Cubariqueño Cigar Co. announces the release of the Protocol Official Misconduct. The cigars are being produced at Erik Espinosa’s LaZona Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Protocol Official Misconduct will be available in a 6×50 format in boxes of 10. The name continues with the Protocol theme of Law & Law Enforcement as owners Bill Ives and Juan Cancel are police officers & Bill Agathis an attorney. The blend consists of an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Esteli / Jalapa. Kevin Keithan, National Sales Manager stated, cigars are being classified as medium plus in strength. Initial release will be at Cubariqueno’s 3 Year Anniversary event on May 12th at the Holiday Inn located in Clinton, New Jersey through Berkeley Humidor and pre-sales will also be available through BerkeleyHumidor.com initially. Cigars will begin to ship to retailers May 15th and head to the 2018 IPCPR this summer. Cubariqueno also announces a line extension in the Probable Cause line. Keithan stated that Cubariqueno has added a Corona Gorda measuring 5 5/8 x 46 to their portfolio. Those cigars will also be made available in boxes of 10 at the Anniversary event and will also ship to retailers on May 15th.
Official Misconduct Pricing –
MSRP- $98.90 per 10 count box
Probable Cause Corona Gorda Pricing-
MSRP- $97.90 per 10 count box
Comments Off on News: Cubariqueño Announces Protocol Official Misconduct
Sunday afternoon I sat down with a tasty MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured Swamp Thang Toro and spent some time on Skype talking to Dave Burke of Cigar Jukebox recording a guest DJ spot for a future show. I’ve been listening to Dave for a while, and from my perspective, it was very easy talking to him for the first time. It didn’t feel like the first time since I’ve grown used to hearing his voice in my headphones. I’m sure it was weird for him, but I was fairly comfortable. I’m fortunate to know many of the people I listen to on podcasts and radio shows, and I hope to get to meet Dave one day. He’s based in Australia, so the likelihood of our paths crossing is reasonable low, unfortunately. Give his shows a listen if you’re a music fan at all, pairing music and cigars is quite interesting, I found it challenging as there is as much variety in music as there is in cigars! It was a great honor to be invited on this terrific show.
Last night I grabbed a Protocol Probable Cause Lancero from the IPCPR sample humidor. This is Cubariqueño‘s sophomore release, made at La Zona in Esteli, with a San Andrés maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The Lancero is 7½” x 38 and is box pressed. While the draw was a little more snug than I like, it burned wonderfully and had great rich, dark flavors. Bill and Juan of Protocol Cigars have three lines, this one with a red band, the original Protocol with the blue band, and the tasty Connecticut shade wrapped Themis with a gold band. I love that they only produce a couple of sizes in each line, it makes it easy for me to keep track of them. I haven’t settled on a favorite yet, they are all really tasty!
Tonight I lit up a cigar that came to me almost two years ago in a very nice selection of cigars from Drew Estate. I decided to smoke this one because it came in a rather unwieldy cardboard box that was taking up to much room in the humidor! Since I received this cigar, Drew Estate is no longer distributing the line, so this isn’t very timely, I guess. The cigar in question, as you might infer from the title of this post, is the Balmoral Añejo XO Rothschild Masivo. This is a 5″ x 55 robusto made in the Dominican Republic with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, that’s listed as “sun grown” and exceptionally aged. The binder is Dominican Olor, and the fillers are Dominican, Nicaraguan and Brazilian, all also described as exceptionally aged. Balmoral is big in Europe, its origins are with the Winterman’s family. The cigar had some plume, and tasted like a well aged cigar. It was very complex, with lots of cocoa and spice and some sweetness. I liked it a lot, I can’t believe it took me so long to smoke this as the box has been getting in my way over the past two years!
I paid a visit to Juan and Bill at the Cubariqueño booth at the show and did a little video with them where they tell us about their latest releases. I smoked the Themis Toro this week and was really impressed! The Themis has a Ecuador Connecticut wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler and is available in Toro and Robusto sizes. The band has the Protocol stylized “P” in gold with a gold foot ribbon. It’s a beautiful looking cigar crafted in the La Zona factory like the rest of their cigars. The cigar is absolutely delicious, smooth and rich with a creamy texture and loads of flavor, this isn’t a mild Connecticut, it’s a solid medium. The signature shade wrapper nuttiness/grassiness is there a little in the background, but the Nicaraguan fillers compliment it very nicely. The Themis might be one of the best cigars I’ve smoked from the show so far, not that I’ve gotten started really, but it’s setting the bar pretty high.
I last night I grabbed a Protocol Probable Cause Churchill, I could have gone with the Lancero, but I decided to save that for another time. I love Lanceros, but I have to be in the right mood. The Churchill is a bit on the short side at 6½” x 48 with a box press, giving it more of a Lonsdale feel. Not a bad thing at all. The Probable Cause has a San Andrés wrapper from Mexico, again with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The wrapper is a rich, dark brown, and I was excited to smoke it. I had smoked this last year, my thoughts can be found here, and really liked it. I thought the Churchill format made it a little less strong, if you know what I mean, but it had the same great espresso/cocoa flavor with a unique spice that I really like. I can see digging into the Lanceros in the not too distant future. Another great cigar! One of the things I really like about the Protocol line is that they have limited their sizes to only two or three per line, with a Corona Gorda, Lancero, Robusto, Toro and this Churchill spread across the three blends.
Here’s the video I shot at the show with Bill and Juan. I’ve done better video work than I did this time around, but I had help in the past, which makes a difference. It gets the message across though. Thanks again to Juan and Bill for spending a few minutes with me! This is truly a brand that’s made it because of social media!
I’m back from the annual trade show and trying to get organized. First and foremost, I’d like to extend my thanks to The Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA for their support, I couldn’t have attended without Dave’s help. They will be having their annual pig roast supporting Drew Estate Charities on September 16, and I think this will be an event not to be missed. The Wooden Indian raises more money for Drew Estate Charities than any other shop in the country, and I heard that from Jonathan Drew with my own ears. Trust me when I say that if you are a Drew Estate fan, you won’t want to miss this event. Again, thanks to Dave for helping me attend this years IPCPR show.
All in all I thought the IPCPR did a great job with this years show, considering a relatively late change of venue. General Cigar Co. sponsored the opening gala Monday night and absolutely killed it. Open bar, loads of food (carving stations! They had frickin carving stations!) DJ and places to sit and relax. While there seemed to be fewer other manufacturers there as there have been in the past, I saw a full compliment of Perdomos in attendance, family and staff alike. To the Perdomo’s credit, they were also present at the hotel bar where many congregated in the off hours and fully were a part of the IPCPR trade show. Altadis sponsored the breakfast meeting on Tuesday with a tote bag with cigars and info for each attendee. I personally was less than thrilled with the keynote speaker, Rudy Giuliani. His nearly one hour speech was far too political, did way too much bashing of the former administration, and made bad analogies and offered poor council in my opinion. I have a hard and fast rule in a cigar lounge, no talking politics or religion. I regret staying through the whole thing, honestly. I’m sure my views on this my not be popular, but it is what it is. I liked Ron White’s keynote speech in 2011 a thousand times more. Other than getting started on that down note ( for me, at least) the show was it’s normal labyrinth of vendors, most of which were relevant to the industry. I question the one vendor with cell phone external battery cases that had a team of aggressive salespeople insisting that you tell them what phone you have so they could sell you a case. I heard one report of them breaking someone’s case removing it to demonstrate theirs. The second time I was harassed I just told them I had a flip phone and kept walking. Now that I think about it, I only saw them the first day, so perhaps the IPCPR dealt with them. I’ll share more thoughts on the show in future posts, but it seemed like while retailer attendance may have been low, several people I talked to were happy with the orders that were written.
I’ve known Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust for 20 years and actually found myself near the spot we first met face to face in Caesars Palace near Cleopatra’s Barge back in 1997. Knowing Steve that long has given me some advantages over the years but I never push that and generally keep a respectful distance at the show as he always seems to be busy, which is a good thing for him. In keeping with his “Sakasquatch” theme, I snapped a picture with the night vision camera ( like they use in all the best squatch hunting shows!) and titled it “The elusive Sakasquatch in his natural environment”. I guess one would have to have watched one of those shows to get the joke. My only regret is not having tagged “Finding Bigfoot” on the Instagram post. However, as the show closed on Thursday and I was getting ready to make my exit, I came across Steve engaged in an interesting activity that I thought was unique and wanted to share. I’ll be surprised if any other cigar media outlet has this kind of information. Check out the video below.
After a nap on Friday following a red-eye flight home, I sat down with a Protocol Corona Gorda which was fantastic, and I wanted to try out a couple of gifts I received from a couple of companies whose products I am I huge fan. I have a couple great desktop humidors from Adorini, and they have a punch cutter that has two sizes of punch and a magnetic closure. The larger punch is bigger than I’ve ever seen, slightly over 1/2″ in diameter. I’ll be putting this through it’s paces, I can’t wait to use it on a CAO Flathead 660. Cigar Oasis celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and gifted me a Jetline dual flame lighter (with a flip out punch on the bottom). Fortunately it made it through TSA undisturbed in a checked bag. Put a Cigar Oasis in an Adorini humidor and you never have to worry about your cigars. The Protocol was excellent, and Juan and Bill hooked me up pretty good with samples, which are resting from their journey. More on Cubariqueño in a future post.
That’s enough for today, I need to try to get back into going to work mode for tomorrow, it sucks going back after a week of fun. Until the next time,
