Author Archive
New Ash: Viaje Exclusivo
Pete Johnson has the Tatuaje Black. Steve Saka has the Liga Privada No. 9. And now Andre Farkas has the Viaje Exclusivo. What do they have in common? They started out as their personal smokes, and when other people got the opportunity to try them, they clamored for them to be released to us, the little people. The new Exclusivo from Viaje is a limited release Nicaraguan puro with an oily Criollo wrapper and a short pigtail at the top. It’s limited to 100 jars of 35 cigars each, but for such a limited cigar it has a fairly reasonable MSRP of $9.50.
E.P. Carrillo Edición Inaugural 2009
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo is most associated with his original cigar creation, the La Gloria Cubana. After rave reviews in the first issues of Cigar Aficionado, the brand help lead the industry into it’s first big boom in the mid-1990s. In 1999, Swedish Match/General Cigar purchased the company from Ernesto, and he stayed there for 10 more years, until the spring of 2009. Wanting to return to his roots as a family-run boutique cigar manufacturer, he started a new company, EPC Cigar Co., along with his two children, Ernesto III and Lissette. Limited to 150,000 cigars, the Edición Inaugural 2009 is the first release from this new venture, with their first full release due in April 2010. Billed as medium bodied, the mix of Nicaraguan and Dominican filler are bound by two 5 year old Piloto Cubano binders, one from Nicaragua and one from the Dominican Republic, and is encased in an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that has been aged for 3 years.
State of the Ash Address 2010
My fellow ash-holes,
Today marks the first anniversary of Nice Tight Ash! It has hard to believe that it was only one year ago that Chris and I launched this site, hoping to contribute to the cigar community that has given us so very much. We hope we have been able to contribute something back to that community as well.
Charlie’s Top 10 Cigars of 2009
It’s that time of year where Top 10 lists abound, and hey, we’re no different. I’m kicking off a week long look at our favorite cigars from 2009. Any of the cigars we’ve reviewed this year were eligible for consideration. One of the things about doing a site with 3 other great guys like Chris, Ben, and Brian is we don’t always get to review everything we want. Other guys get to it first, and we think, “Damn. I really like that cigar.” So you won’t just find stuff I’ve reviewed in my list. But I have smoked them all, whether I mentioned them or not. I didn’t pick cigars purely on taste. Price and availability also came into play.
Sunday Fiver – 2009 Cigar Trends
Every industry has trends, and the cigar industry is no different despite it’s long history and tradition. A lot of “new” trends are really old ideas that have been refreshed, and brought back anew. Other trends are totally new, and may or may not stand the test of time to become part of the cigar tradition. I’ve picked out what I think are the five biggest trends from 2009.
Viaje Holiday Blend 2009
Viaje is one of the newer companies in the cigar market, and this year they have began a new limited edition Holiday Blend series. The inaugural 2009 version is limited to a production of 100 boxes of 30 cigars. This full bodied Nicaraguan puro features a luscious Criollo wrapper and all Nicaraguan tobacco with a covered foot, which the company says is to keep the cigars warm in the winter. I tested that by smoking this the day after Maryland got its biggest December snow storm in history.
K. A. Kendall’s 7-20-4
I braved the cold and the rain to smoke the new 7-20-4 from Kurt Kendall. The name was revived from a cigar made by R.G. Sullivan from 1875 through 1963 in Manchester. The cigar got it’s name from the street address of Sullivan’s factory at 724 Elm Steet. The modern 7-20-4 is made in Honduras [...]
Patel Bros. Toro
Cigar companies have long been family affairs, and it is even true of some of the new guard like Rocky Patel Cigars. Rocky teamed up with his brother Nish, the director of sales, to release the new Patel Bros. cigar. Wrapped in a dark Pennsyvlania Broadleaf maduro wrapper, the Patel Bros. cigar is supposedly the full production brother to the limited release Rocky Patel Winter Blend that was released earlier this year to rave reviews.
Zippo BLU Lighter
Zippo is a name that even non-smokers have known for a long time. Their fluid-based lighters have been well-known and well-respected since they opened up in 1932. But the fluid used tends to leave a bad taste when used to light cigars. A couple of years ago the company introduced the new Zippo BLU lighter which uses butane for fuel. Our good friends and sponsor over at BuyLighters.com sent us one to try out.
Rare Ash: Don Arturo Gran AniverXario
I thought I’d celebrate my 30th birthday in style, so I’m smoking a Don Arturo Gran AniverXario. Jerry from Stogie Review gifted me this cigar during a herf at Bethesda Tobacco a couple of months ago, and I knew I’d be saving it for my birthday. I’m smoking the Natural version, which measures in at 6 3/8″ x 48 ring gauge (there is also a sun-grown version at 6 ¼” x 46 with a different wrapper but the same filler). It features an aged Opus X rosado wrapper, and the fillers is the “AF13 blend,” which is a mix of Opus, Don Carlos, Hemingway, and 858 tobaccos. The cigars were rolled in 2002, so this cigar has about 7 years of age on it.