Nick Syris is the guy behind LH Cigars, the maker of the Lavida Habana cigar line. Nick wears many hats, he owned cigar lounges in the middle east, co-hosts the Smooth Draws radio show out of Atlanta, and developed the Lavida Habana line to compete with Cuban cigars. I met Nick at the IPCPR show briefly, although I never did get to the LH Cigars booth, but I ran into Ron Arellano, who’s SmokinFly Cigar Brokerage reps the brand and he gave me a Lavida Habana Churchill. I’m going to say this was the Claro version, the line is available in Sungrown and Maduro, and has tobacco from Nicaragua, Brasil, and Peru. The cigar I smoked had an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper, with a closed foot. The typical Ecuador Connecticut flavor was very muted, it was a solidly medium cigar with a good burn and draw, with some nice light spice and a hint of coffee with cream. Nice rich smoke.
Another booth I stopped at while at the IPCPR show was the NINETY Degree cigar holder. I admit, I stopped to look at what appeared to me to be a PVC elbow with magnets attached, I had a bit of the “here’s another silly gadget. This is marketed to to the golfer as a place to put your cigar. After having it sit on my desk for the last couple months, I figured it was time to open it up and give it a try. I think the premise is that it won’t damage a cigar like many of the clip type holders might do, by putting the head of the cigar in the holder while you’re otherwise occupied. The magnets are very strong and hold it firmly on a steel surface, I placed it on the arm of my porch chair and it held firm. If you have any qualms about putting the same end of your cigar that touches your lips in the PVC cup, this probably isn’t a device for you, and for me it’s a little awkward placing it in there. Also, if you’er a chewer, this might get gross pretty quick. I have to say, I’m still a little cynical about this, but I am open minded, and I appreciate the chance to check it out.
That’s all for now, until the nest time,
CigarCraig
