Rosales and Martin Launch RoMa Craft Tobac
Austin, January 24, 2012: Two familiar names in the cigar industry, Michael Rosales and Skip Martin, announced today the formation of a new premium cigar company, RoMa Craft Tobac. The new entity combines the operations of Rosales’ Costa Rican Imports, LLC and Martin’s Galveston Bay Tobacco, LLC into a more efficient independent company managing the Adrians, CroMagnon, CroMagnon Aquitaine, Intemperance, Thirty and Hava Cigar brands including manufacturing operations in Esteli, Nicaragua and San Jose, Costa Rica.
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Room 101 Announces the Release Date of the Room101 LTD OSOK Edition
This will begin shipping to select retailers on Feb. 15, 2012. Official press release below:
Room101 LTD OSOK Edition
“One Shot, One Kill”
Edgar Hoill (One Shot, One Kill), is the Los Angeles based photographer responsible for all of the Room101 imagery you find floating around in the universe. From product imagery to lifestyle shots and beyond, Edgar’s keen eye and mental frame are what give his photography life beyond just a simple image on paper.
I’ve had the honor of working with OSOK over the past few years. During this time, I have come to know him as an individual whose character matches up to the quality of his work. His magnetic personality draws people towards his genius imagery and towards OSOK, the character.
I am honored to call Mr. Hoill a good friend and a brother in this lifetime. He is an original member of the 101 family and we would not be where we are today without him. As he has also been a long time cigar enthusiast, I am proud to offer this limited series bearing his name.
Each of the Room101 OSOK cigars were rolled, and then hand-shaped by one master roller in our factory. The blend, considered to be a medium plus, is built on a chassis of Authentic Corojo in the binder and filler. The oily Ecuadorian Habano wrapper adds smoothness, while the combination of Corojo and Dominican Piloto Ligero help further the strength as you move through the smoke.
Production
Filero: 10,000 cigars, 1,000 boxes
Trucha: 10,000 cigars, 1,000 boxes
Chingon: 10,000 cigars, 1,000 boxes
Total: 30,000 cigars, 3,000 boxes
Blend
Wrapper: Habano (Ecuador)
Binder: Corojo Seco (Honduras)
Filler: Corojo & Piloto Ligero (Honduras & Dominican Republic)
Strength: Medium to Full Body
| SKU# | Description | Quantity Size | MSRP/Cigar | MSRP | |
| 043159 | Room101 LTD OSOK Edition Filero | 10 52 x 42 x 4 1/2 | $8.00 | $80.00 | |
| 043160 | Room101 LTD OSOK Edition Trucha | 10 30 x 50 x 19 x 6 1/2 | $10.00 | $100.00 | |
| 043161 | Room101 LTD OSOK Edition Chingon | 10 60 x 44 x 8 | $12.00 | $120.00 |
Alec Bradley Black Market
Today I’m firing up the Black Market from Alec Bradely. This cigar was introduced at the 2011 IPCPR and features a four country blend of tobacco. In my opinion the last couple of years have been a great time for Alec Bradley products, so I was anxious to see how the Black Market fit into line-up.
Name: Black Market
Company: Alec Bradley
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Sumatra
Filler: Panama & Honduras
Comes in: Box of 22
Price: $7.40/stick
Vitola: Toro (6 x 50)
The Black Market did not let me down. It was a well balanced medium to full-bodied cigar with tons of flavor. I picked up lots of espresso and cocoa and some notes of wood and spice. The Tempus is still my favorite cigar from Alec Bradley, but I think the Black Market is now my second favorite, demoting the Prensado to third.
I strongly suggest giving this cigar a try. It’s box worthy to me, but it’s definitely worth picking up a 5-pack if you’re looking to give it a try.
Gran Habano Cigars Unveils New Cigar Factory in Miami
Miami, Fl., January 23, 2012 – The Gran Habano – G.R. Tabacaleras Co. cigar factory located on “Calle Ocho”, 8th street, in the Little Havana district of Miami is completed and ready to roll. Focusing on the highest standard for the cigar community the factory will employ 10 Cuban rollers who will produce no more than 1,000 cigars per day to ensure quality and consistency. This will be the base of our new cigar line “Gran Habano Miami” which will lead off with the soon-to-be-released Black Corojo, Opium Miami and the continuance of our STK program.
Black Corojo will be an extension of our popular Gran Habano Corojo #5 line. As the name implies, it will feature the industries first black corojo cigar wrapper. Due to the overwhelming success of our Opium release it will become a regular production cigar line known as Opium Miami. Production on both of these cigars will be based on traditional Cuban sizes and the blends will be revised to take the connoisseur to the next level.
A blend lab, called G.A.R. Deli, will also be made available to anyone who has ever dreamt of creating their own cigar. This program will put you in the position of the master blender; allowing the creation of a cigar tailored to your unique palate. Materials on hand will fluctuate every two weeks to affirm that the possibilities are endless.
Our Gran Habano – G.R. Tabacaleras Co. factory also features a luxury lounge and the official Gran Habano humidor. Patrons will be able to choose from our lines – both old and new. We also have products that are not widely available to the public such the Corojo #5 lancero, Cabinet Selection (and a private Cabinet Selection Lancero) and other unique size formats. The exact opening date to the public will shortly be announced – so stay tuned.
About Gran Habano Cigars
Gran Habano Cigars was founded in 1995 by Guillermo Rico and his son George Rico. Using only the best raw materials on earth, Gran Habano begins the growing process with Habano and Corojo seeds which are grown on company-owned farms in Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The process comes to fruition at our boutique factory, which focuses on quality control and high-end productivity making it one of the top cigar companies in the world.
Connect With Gran Habano
http://GHCigars.com
http://twitter.com/GHCigars
http://facebook.com/GranHabanoCigars
La Flor Dominicana to introduce Double Claro in January 2012.
La Flor Dominicana to introduce Double Claro, January 2012.
Coral Gables, FL January 2012 – La Flor Dominicana will introduce its first ever Candela cigar.
The Double Claro is a medium bodied candela with an Ecuadorian wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler from our farm in La Canela. The original release will be in 25 count boxes available in three sizes (robusto, corona, chuchill). This item will be regular production.
No. 50 – Size: 50 x 5 Suggested retail per box: $171.50 Suggested retail per cigar: $6.86
No. 42 – Size: 42 x 5 ½ Suggested retail per box: $169.00 Suggested retail per cigar: $6.76
No. 48 – Size: 48 x 6 7/8 Suggested retail per box: $181.50 Suggested retail per cigar: $7.26
La Flor Dominicana is a vertically integrated premium cigar company, where we proudly control the process from the seed to the final grading, inspecting and packing process. Our tobaccos are grown at our farm in La Canella, Dominican Republic. Our factory is located in Tamboril.
Hammer & Sickle Berlin Wall
For the last one and a half months I’ve been smoking my way through a couple handfuls of the Berlin Wall from Hammer & Sickle Cigars. These cigars jumped out at me during a trip to Old Virginia Tobacco. The Berlin Wall is beautifully presented in a white marble box of twenty and are dressed with a shiny copper band. On a shelf of wooden boxes, the Berlin Wall really stands out.
To make this project special Hammer & Sickly sought out the help of Christian Eroia of Camacho Cigars. What they cam up with was a blend of Honduan and Dominican tobaccos, that H&S feel is a representation of pre-embargo Cuban cigars.
Name: Berlin Wall
Company: Hammer & Sickle
Wrapper: Honduran Criollo aged 6 years
Binder: Honduran Habano aged 4 years
Filler: Domincan Navarrette and Jamastran aged 3 years
Comes in: Box of 20
Price: Approximately $7.00/stick
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Pre-Light
The 6-year-old Honduran Criollo wrapper is light shade of caramel and has a very delicate vein structure. The texture/feel of the wrapper was dry and a little furry. The aroma coming off the cigar is very faint and is most reminiscent of wood. The cigar was nicely constructed and finished up with a triple cap. An abundant amount of tobacco was evenly rolled throughout leaving a finished product that felt heavy in the hand. Pre-light draw was flawless and yielded little flavor.
Flavor & Burn
The Berlin wall starts off with a subtle woodiness that blended nicely with hints of earth and spice. As I got further in to the cigar the woodiness and earthiness really ramped up. The spice was generally in the background, however, from time to time it would ramp up adding to the complexity of the cigar. The cigar was medium-bodied and features a full-flavored and balanced blend of flavors.
The cigar burned evenly and produced ample amounts of bluish white smoke.
Final Thoughts
I’ve really enjoyed smoking these cigars of the last month. For me the Berlin Wall is a cigar that can be smoked any time of the day. I see this cigar pairing best with either coffee or a single malt scotch that doesn’t feature a lot of smoke or peat. At approximately $7.00/stick I could definitely see picking up a box of these, but definitely recommend a 5-pack.
Humidor Notes Cigar Journals
I’ve seen a few ways here and there where people try to keep track of the cigars that they smoke. From Excel spreadsheets, Phone Apps, to spiral bound notebooks. But none ever seemed to work for me. Either it was too involved to get set up or too complicated, etc.. Recently, I was on twitter talking with a fellow cigar smoker, we usually talk back and forth of what we are smoking, whats new out, and smoking good. Later on twitter, I saw he posted where he had a new site: Humidor Notes I checked out the site and was interested in what I saw. I favorited the tweet so I could come back to the site later.
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Winston Humidor
Around late August I received the Winston Humidor from 1st Class Cigar Humidors. They gave me this humidor in exchange for my review. Since that time I’ve been paying close attention to a few different aspects and now feel that I’m ready to give my assessment of this humidors form and function.
Details
Size: 16-3/4″ W x 10-3/4″ D x 6-3/4″ H
Capacity: up to 150 cigars
Comes With: Humidifier, Hygrometer, Cigar Scissors and 3 Adjustable Dividers
Price: $189.00
Form
First off the Winston Humidor’s combination of eye catching shape and finish make for a nice addition to any smoke room. My personal taste leans towards darker finishes, but in the case of the Winston I really enjoy the mesh of light and dark colors. The unit as a whole is feels heavy in the hands. Quality hardware, in the way of hinges, was used which made for easy opening.
In my experience most humidors of this size are equipped with a lock. The Winston, however, does not come with one. I’m not sure that a lock is actually necessary, and in some cases it becomes a burden when a key is misplaced, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
The Winston humidor includes a humidifier, hygrometer and cigar scissors. All of these items attach nicely to the inside top of the lid using a magnet that is hidden inside the lid. To me this is a nice touch considering the Velcro used in equally expensive humidors which always seems to fail after prolonged exposure to humidity.
Function
The humidor that’s in my procession didn’t seem to have the tightest of seals when I first unpackaged it. I came to this conclusion based on personal experience with other humidors. With others I could always sense a “grab” when the lid was lifted from the base. To me this was indicating a tight fit between the lid and base. I didn’t feel that same “grab” with the Winston. Then I remembered an old trick a local shop owner taught me years ago to test a humidors seal. He told me that if you close a dollar bill between the lid and base that you should be able to feel significant resistance as the bill is pulled out. That indicates a proper seal. I tried this with the Winston and found the seal to be adequate.
Since I’ve been using this humidor for approximately 4 months I’ve had the opportunity to use the humidor in a variety of humid and dry weather conditions. All humidors, in varying degrees, fall prey to the extremes in weather, and the Winston was no exception. During humid times I had to refill the humidifier every two and a half weeks. During drier periods the refills fluctuated between one and a half to two weeks. Overall I’d say the humidor performed rather well. I was able to keep the humidor in a range of 62-8% RH with little effort.
The description states that “up to 150 cigars” can be placed in this humidor. I can wee that if they were all coronas. However, I’ve had a variety of sizes in the humidor so I’ve been able to fit anywhere between 30 and 60 sticks in the humidor at one time.
Final Thoughts
Overall I’ve been very pleased with the Winston humidor. To me it performed well in all the areas a humidor should. The cherry on top is the appearance, which in my opinion is stunning. To me this humidor is a great buy, one that I would spend my own hard earned money on.
For better picutures of the finish and interior of the Winston humidor please visit the 1st Class Cigar Humidors. Also, please leave any feedback you have on this review. Since it was my first time reviewing a humidor, other than an travel humidor, i’d appreciate any feedback you may have on how to make any future articles more informative.
Tatuaje L’Esprit de Vérité Robusto – 2009 Vintage
Editor: Due to technical difficulties with blip.tv, this review is airing later than expected. It was supposed to air before my Top Cigars of the Year list. Never the less, here it is.
Pete Johnson has started a pretty interesting concept with cigars that has been used in France for decades. Pete visited one of the first farms the Garcia’s owned and was really impressed with the tobacco they were growing there. He had an idea about making a cigar using only tobacco from this one particular farm and sell futures on the cigars like you can buy futures on Bordeaux wine. Like Bordeaux futures, they are sold in different tiers with time limits on each tier. After the time has expired on each tier, the price goes up. Each year, Tatuaje will release these cigars in a churchill and robusto size with slight changes in the blend depending on the crops. This year, the robusto blend is 50% Habano Nicaragua, 40% Criollo ’98 and 10% Pelo De Oro. This is an amazing concept for a cigar and one I wish would catch on with other companies as well. Pete even put an A. O. C. designation on the back of the cigar band. Only 20,000 of these cigars were made and quickly sold out, although you can still find a few from some retailers. So, how did this cigar turn out? Watch the video and find out.
What 2012 Will Bring
As we enter the fourth year of Nice Tight Ash I want to extend all my thanks to everyone that visits our site and contributes via comments. The last three years have gone by rather quickly, so quickly we haven’t gotten to change things quite they way we originally intended. So what does that mean? It actually means a couple of things.
In the coming months we will finally be launching a redesigned site that we’ve promised for the last two years. Along with the redesign we’re hoping to improve the way you’re able to view our content. I’m also hoping to change things up and provide some different types of content. With that said, I’d like to once again ask for your input regarding what you’d like to see. What can we do better? What would you like to see? Should we just STFU?
Also, this New Year is going to bring about a change for me. Throughout 2011 you might have noticed a drastic drop in the amount of posts from me. Well without going into a ton of detail I’ll just say there were a number of personal and professional reasons that I just couldn’t keep up. Good news is things are starting to slow down and I should be back to regular weekly posts. I’d really like to thank Ben and Shawn for keeping this boat afloat while I was absent.
One more piece of business. At the beginning of December I posted the “Sometimes I Just Want and El Cheapo” article along with a contest. I sent and e-mail to the winner, Brian, but have not yet heard back. I’ll give Brian until midnight Friday, January 6th to reply. If I don’t receive a reply by then I’ll choose a new winner via a random number generator.
So that just about wraps up all I have to say. We hope you have a great year and look forward to seeing what you have to say.