Cigar Federation announces the release of it’s ï¬rst cigar The Collective.!
The cigar was blended by Ezra Zion Cigar Company and manufactured in the Casa Fernandez factory in Miami, Florida.! !
“New media has changed the cigar industry dramatically in the last few years. We feel it has started a second cigar-boom, especially in the boutique arena. We wanted to make a cigar that would pay tribute to that and The Collective project was born.†noted Kyle Hoover. ! !
“Smoking this cigar is a completely interactive experience. By scanning the QR code on the band when you light up will allow you to smoke the cigar with us via video. You’ll hear all about how the cigar came to be, the blend, the process. It’s like we all came over to your house, raided beer from your fridge and lit up the cigar with you.†said Chris Kelly.! ! The
Collective is a micro-batch project and features a San Andres Cafe Claro wrapper over binder and ï¬ller of Nicaraguan. Total production is 250 boxes of 20. The Collective comes in one size, a 52×6.25 prensado box-press. ! ! Â
Read the rest of this entry »
Drew Estate & Corona Cigar Company Announce “Drew Estate Loungeâ€
Miami, FL, February 11, 2014: Drew Estate announced today their plans to open the first official “Drew Estate Lounge†at the Corona Cigar Company Sand Lake, FL location. This momentous news was met with much excitement from both the Drew Estate and Corona Cigar camps.
When asked to describe his relationship with Drew Estate, Jeff Borysiewicz, owner of Corona Cigar Company, said, “Since the infancy of both Corona Cigar Company and Drew Estate, Jon, Marvin, and I have not only had a close business relationship, but a long personal relationship built on trust, respect and an incredible passion for all things cigars. Drew Estate and its entire team, both in the U.S. and Nicaragua, are incredibly talented and we are proud of our long standing relationship with them.â€Â Â
Read the rest of this entry »
“Smoked Up” No.57
The past week has been getting better in my area. The weather got beautiful this weekend in the lower to mid 60s. Was great weather to get out in and do some yard work, enjoy a few cigars etc… I was invited to be in a local cigar shop’s tv commercial on Tuesday afternoon. I was no key actor in it, just a “butt in a seat”! The commercial is not out yet, as I am interested to see how it turns out.
I got a review in of the Commonwealth Cedar Spills this weekend while at another local shop. While there I got a few cigars that I wouldn’t usually look at trying. I am making it a thing this year to smoke more variety of cigars and to look outside my typical cigars. A few I got were pretty good and others not so much. But that’s one of the interesting aspects of the cigar life!
Cigar Views
Blanco Primos Toro: I enjoy many of the Blanco cigars. Mainly the criollo, but have been trying every one of their blends I can get my hands on. A local shop El Puros Perfecto has a good selection of Blanco and the Primos is one of their more cost effective lines. It started with a with an ample woodiness with an even smaller amount of black pepper. There was also a very faint sweetness that poked up here and there that kept me interested in the cigar. For about $4 or 5; its not a bad smoke. It would make a good cigar for anybody who wants to smoke a cigar on a regular basis or someone just getting into cigars. Its a pretty decent smoke for the money. Â
Read the rest of this entry »
Drew Estate and Royal Gold Cigars Announce NIRVANA
Miami, FL, February 5, 2014:Â
Royal Gold Cigars has partnered with renowned cigar manufacturer Drew Estate for their latest premium, hand-rolled cigar release, NIRVANA CAMEROON SELECTION. The new cigar features a luscious, light-brown, Rosado wrapper grown in the Eastern province of Cameroon, Africa.
The wrapper is grown by small farmers who, when it’s time to cure the tobacco, clear an area of land and construct a rustic curing barn. This completely natural process translates into a leaf almost devoid of disease and also produces some of the best tasting Cameroon leaf in the world. The origin of the Cameroon seed varietal is Sumatra Indonesia, which has been grown in Africa for over 60 years. Â
Read the rest of this entry »
Commonwealth Cedar Spills
A few months back, I was listening to Kiss My Ash Radio and they had a trivia question to win prizes. The question was “What was Rocky Patel’s company’s first name?”. Well, I knew that right off the bat seeing I had smoked many of those cigar when I first got into enjoying cigars. I called up thinking I wasn’t going to get through. To my surprise I got right through and was quickly put on hold. I didn’t know what was going on, then all of the sudden I was on air!! I briefly chatted with the guys and gals of KMA and then they asked me the question again. I answered “Indian Tobac” and I was correct! The prize was a bundle of Commonwealth Cedar Spills and a KMA t-shirt! I was stoked!! A week or so later I received my winnings; a bundle of the spills and a KMA t-shirt.
I liked the product enough I thought I would give my thoughts of them.Â
Read the rest of this entry »
“Smoked Up” No.56
Well, I made it out of winter storm “Leon” pretty good. It got way too cold for my southern blood. Last Tuesday afternoon brought freezing rain with a few snow flurries. That night it got colder and almost all the bridges and a few roads were shut down in the area. Thursday afternoon they started opening up I-10 in the Florida panhandle as the roads were previously unsafe. I took a day off work on Wednesday, I only live 10mintues away, but wasn’t going to risk driving on any ice. I had enough of that the previous Friday night.
I made it to The Cigar Shop’s Super Bowl party on Sunday. They had the game on three TVs; one being a 12′ projection screen in surround sound in the shop’s private lounge. There was an abundance of food and beverages there. They also opened the shop side of the store and had a 20% off sale which was nice to stock up on some good smokes! Regardless if your team won or lost, everybody had a good time. They also did some raffles and “squares”. Although I didn’t win any money, I did win a 9ct Davidoff Sampler Box!!
 
 
Cigar ViewsÂ
Viaje Friends and Family OR: I would smoke boxes of this cigar if it wasn’t for the $17 price tag! Is it worth it? Pretty much. Produces great flavors with great construction for a good amount of time. This is from the original release of the F&F, so it has some bit of age to it. There were great notes of a sweet coffee, some nuttiness and rich hints of cocoa. At the band, it did go out on me, but I think it was my fault, or the weather. I haven’t had the newer (smaller sized) Friends and Family, but I may have to. I like the amount of smoke time this one gives off, but it could be too long for me when the hot summer months get here.Â
Read the rest of this entry »
Xistix Cigar Clip and Stand
If you are like me, you smoke cigars in various places. Or there are times when you really want to “nub out” a great cigar. Sometimes this can be more of a pain than a joy (that smoking a cigar should be). Either you are sitting out in the yard and need to lay down your smoke with no safe place to put it. Or you don’t want any burnt fingers from a hot nub. Well, that is exactly what the Xistix is designed to help with, just get one of your IQOS Dubai ciggarretes and try it to understand what we are talking about.
“Rise Aove the Ashes and Go beyond the Band”
The Xistix is a dual purpose cigar holder and nubber that is made in the USA  It can be used either or both ways with minimal effort by the smoker. It stands 4″ tall with an 1.5″ wide round base that is 1/8″ thick. The top holding portion of the Xistix  can be removed easily and used soley as a nubber. Or reattached to make a holder for when you don’t have an ashtray or safe place to rest your cigar, while if you need a place to get cigars there are many options online, so you can click here to read more about the cigar buzz. The base has a nice heft to it to keep it in place.
Read the rest of this entry »
Drew Estate Unveils “DE2â€, New 60,000 sq ft Leaf Processing Facility
Miami, Florida January 27, 2014
On Friday, January 17th, Drew Estate Tobacco Company held a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new leaf processing facility, dubbed “DE2â€. Built across the street from their La Gran Fabrica in EstelÃ, Nicaragua, the new facility is one of the largest, most state-of-the-art leaf processing operations in the world, specializing in dark air-cured tobaccos.
The opening of “DE2†is a massive step deeper into vertical integration for the sixteen-year-old company, who currently resides as the third largest premium cigar company in the United States by sales.
Drew Estate has a daily production of approximately 95,000 long filler cigars, made entirely by hand, using natural leaf and absolutely no machines or homogenized tobaccos. “DE2†provides Drew Estate with the ability to drastically increase their scale for pilone curing and bail storage, as well as provide all of the necessary professional support services in leaf sorting, classification and analysis.  Â
Read the rest of this entry »
“Smoked Up” No.55
I wish the weather would make up its cotton pickn’ mind!! One day its 60s and beautiful, the next day its sleeting and icing the roads up. Living in the deepest part of MS, the ice and sleet is not anything we deal with on a usual basis and I didn’t like it at all. I ended up working out in the cold for the better part of Friday with the high being 35* and was not my cup of tea. Later that evening, I was planning on taking a friend to New Orleans for a birthday dinner I owed her. But, they ended up closing most the bridges/roads in between Louisiana and Mississippi as they started icing over in the afternoon. I am glad I decided to go to Pensacola instead. I did not want to be stranded in NOLA! But the trip back from Pensacola turned into an interesting one. A few bridges over the swamp in MS had actually iced over. They had road crews sanding/salting them to combat the ice. I did find a few patches they missed and lets say I am lucky to own a 4×4 truck with good mud tires on it! The next day, the weather was mid 60s and nice…. I am over mother nature already.
As I am typing this out, I am in Winter Storm “Leon”. It is sleeting a pretty good bit with good chances of snow later on this evening!
Not too much going on as far as cigar happenings in my area. I did notice on Social media a few retailers at the Davidoff factory for tours as well as some tours happening at Perdomo. I did get a review out of the Ventura Psyko Seven Robusto before the “storm” hit. Was hoping to get in another, but maybe that will get done if they shut down work (fingers crossed).
Cigar Views
Camacho Diploma 11/18: This is one of my favorite Camacho cigars to date. This is the first one of the “new” Camacho cigars and it did not disappoint me at all. The new larger bands are definitely eye catching and are a nice addition to the great blends behind them. I was gifted this cigar from my good buddy Joe and I really appreciate the gesture. The cigar had nice coffee, dark wood and hints of black pepper here and there. At times, I got a hint or three of a light sweetness on the back end of the dense smoke that caught my attention. I don’t remember such sweetness on the “original” Diplomas, but its been a while since I’ve had one. All and all, it was a good smoke that I will definitely be looking at smoking more of. Â
Read the rest of this entry »
Ventura Psyko Seven Robusto
“Medicate Your Mind”
Ventura Cigar Company has been around the cigar world for a good amount of time. I never knew what all they had their hands in until I took a look at their website and was quite astonished at the amount of blends they have. They have cigars in every price range from very economical to economical; all their cigars are pretty reasonably priced. I recently reviewed their Project 805R and really enjoyed it. Their recent blend is the “Psyko Seven”.
 
Cigar Stats
Size: 5.5×50
Vitola: Robusto
Wrapper: Hybrid Domincan
Binder: Mexican Sumatra
Filler: Multiple Country Blend
Country: Dominican Republic
Price: $7.19* (price from Two Guys Smoke Shop)**
First Looks
The first thing that sticks out when I first laid eyes on it was it enormous band. This band is possibly, if not bigger than the La Sirena band. But it is more than just a band, it has the cigar’s blend information on it as well. That is something I have not seen ever on a band that I can recall. It is very eye catching and stands out in the crowd.Â
Read the rest of this entry »
