Davidoff of Geneva announces AVO 86th Anniversary Edition Cigar 2012 “La Trompeta”

Tampa, FL – March 7, 2011 – Cigar icon Avo Uvezian is celebrating his 86th birthday with the release of his Limited Edition Anniversary Cigar, “La Trompeta.” The “86th Anniversary” marks the twelfth annual limited edition release from AVO Cigars, a tradition the legendary cigar composer started to commemorate his 75th birthday.

 

The new AVO Limited Edition 2012 – ‘La Trompeta’ is a dedication to the Jazz musician and aficionado on his 86th birthday, a coronation of his lifetime work. Decades of Avo Uvezian’s work and passion are united in every single cigar, as well as tradition and established knowledge of the tobacco master, Hendrik Kelner.

 

Through the subtle balanced Ligero tobaccos and the add-on of Peruvian Seco from exquisite tobacco fields, this special vintage is a medium to full- bodied cigar with complex notes in the aftertaste. The beautiful, slightly oily Ecuador Special Sun Grown wrapper “Seleccion 702” awards this cigar an indescribable spicy and balanced, multi-faceted experience. This cigar converts our thoughts in dreams.

 

A dark brown lacquered box with rounded edges is covered with a stylish black print of the “Avo silhouette” as a cigar aficionado Avo, as the musician with his trumpet, is radiantly printed with gold foil in the background.

 

“La Trompeta” presents itself in a majestic and charming cigar format – a brilliant 6 ½ x 54 “Piramide”– the addition of a special feature to pay homage to the jazz trumpet, three small circular cigar leaf cut-outs are placed on the wrapper leaf to resemble “trumpet keys” – limited to 100,000 cigars worldwide with 50,000 cigars for the US market.

“La Trompeta” will be available on March 26th at Select Merchants with a retail price of $15.50 taxes not included.

“La Trompeta” in the US first, in May he will travel on tour through Germany and Switzerland.

 

2012 AVO 86th Anniversary Cigar Dinner Tour

 

Davidoff of Geneva @ The Grand Havana Room, New York, NY                   March 22, 2012

Corona Cigar Company, Orlando, FL                                                                 March 24, 2012

 Maduro’s Cigar, Sarasota, FL                                                                              March 29, 2012

 Tinder box, Charlotte, NC                                                                                     April 5, 2012

 Two Guys Smoke Shop, Nashua, NH                                                               April 11, 2012

 AVO Lounge @ The Smoke Ring, Sugarland, TX                                            April 18, 2012

 AVO Lounge @ Club Humidor, San Antonio, TX                                             April 19, 2012

 Straus Tobacconist @ Montgomery Inn, Cincinnati, OH                                April 25, 2012

 The Cigar House, Old San Juan, PR                                                                June 21, 2012

 

 

Punch Rare Corojo Returns to Retail

Punch Rare Corojo Returns to Retail

Annual Release Includes 10th Anniversary Blend

General Cigar announces that Punch Rare Corojo will be offered for a limited time, starting today and ending on May 31, 2012, while supplies last. Seven frontmarks will be available, ranging in price from $3.59 to $6.49 per cigar (SRP).

A very limited supply of the Punch Rare Corojo 10th Anniversary edition (5” x 50, SRP $6.99 per cigar) will also be available for sale during the same period, or until the limited quantity is depleted.



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Crowned Heads Announces ‘Headley Grange’ Project

Viaje Super Shot 10 Gauge

Viaje recently released 3 new additions to their cigar lines: Winter Class (WLP), Friends and Family, Super Shot. The Super Shot is the cigar I’m reviewing today. Patterned after a shotgun shell (shotgun shells come in 3 sizes today: 2 3/4″, 3″ and 3 1/2″) and these cigars coming in at 3 1/2 x 54 ring gauge in boxes of 25 cigars. The boxes are patterned after Remington shotgun boxes from the 40s or 50s. A 12 gauge version will be released at the end of March that will be 3 1/2″ x 52. Viaje used all Nicaraguan tobacco for these cigars using the upper primings of the tobacco plant for the tobacco in the cigar. These get more sun so they are thicker and more oily. They also develop a richer flavor and more strength. Is this cigar a hit or a dud? Watch the video and find out.

Thanks for Mike Mando at The Cigar Shop in Biloxi, MS and Browning for their assistance in the review.

RoMa Craft releases new Intemperance

RoMa Craft announced the release of their new Intemperance line featuring two different wrappers:  a Brazilian Arapiraca and an Ecuadorian Connecticat wrapper.  Released in both parejo and figurado sizes, the retail prices range from $5.00 to $7.00.  Sampler packs are available for order now at their online store at Hava Cigar Shop with 5 and 10 packs coming in March. Boxes of 24/30 (Petito) will be released to retailers in May..  Pre-release orders are being taken now with a 20% discount.

Intemperance EC XVIII – Ecuador Connecticut
The Charity, a 4 x 46 Petito, $5.00
The Virtue, a 4 1/2 x 52 Short Robusto, $6.00
The Faith, a 5 x 50 Short Perfecto, $6.50
The Industry, a 5 1/2 x 54 Belicoso, $7.00

Intemperance BA XXI – Brazil Arapiraca
The Intrigue, a 4 x 46 Petito, $5.00
The Avarice, a 4 1/2 x 52 Short Robusto, $6.00
The Envy, a 5 x 50 Short Perfecto, $6.50
The Ambition, a 5 1/2 x 54 Belicoso, $7.00

RoMa Craft is a new cigar company founded by Skip Martin and Michael Rosales.  They brought in both their cigar lines, Cromagnon and Adrians, under RoMa Craft and will be releasing new lines under RoMa Craft.

 

EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut Short Run 2012 Reinados

The New Wave Connecticut was released last year and garnered many accolades from us cigar bloggers. It was hard not to find it on many of our Top Cigars of the Year list, including mine. A very flavorful, medium bodied Connecticut, was a huge hit. Now, EP Carrillo released this years Short Run in the New Wave Connecticut. The Short Run 2012 uses the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper of the New Wave Connecticut with a Connecticut Broadleaf binder along with Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers from the Core Line maduro. I’ve been a really big fan of the cigars that EP Carrillo has put out after the Inaugral Edition 2009, which I didn’t care for at all. This cigar was no different. Starting out with a mild body and later developing into a medium bodied cigar, the cigar had notes of wood, sweet spice, honey, cocoa and the great creaminess of the New Wave Connecticut. The smaller ring gauges had a more concentrated flavor and more fuller body, but the larger Reinados was smoother than the rest. Another great cigar from EP Carrillo.

Thanks to EP Carrillo for sending me a sampler pack of these cigars for review.

Rocky Patel to release exclusive “Burn” cigar to Rocky Patel cigar lounges

Rocky Patel announced today the release of an exclusive cigar for their cigar lounges called “Burn”. The cigar will make its first appearance at the Cigar Cave in Palm Harbor, FL with releases to all other Rocky Patel cigar lounges shortly thereafter. The cigar features an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper with a proprietary blend of tobaccos from Nicaragua as the binder and filler. It will be released in 3 sizes in 20 count boxes:

Robusto (5×50) – $152.00 retail
Toro (6×52) – $162.00 retail
Titan (8 ½ x 60) – $186.00 retai
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Illusione 68

There is quite a following of the Illusione line of cigars. I tried a few here and there when I first got into cigars. I jumped head first and wasn’t quite ready for this flavor profile of cigar just yet in the larger ring gauges. I was smoking mainly the larger ring gauge Illusione and didn’t care too much for them. I stopped buying them all together for a while and then got a hold of a few HL Maduros (OR). I fell in love with that cigar and thought; “Even though its a maduro, I wonder if I’ll like the smaller ring gauge cigars”. So I tried the smaller ring gauges and found to like the smaller ring gauge a lot better than the larger. Watch the video and see my take of the 68.

Paul Stulac Phantom

The Paul Stulac line of cigars started off with Paul Stulac, a B&M owner from Canada. Paul was on vacation in Miami, FL a few years back and went to the Cuban Crafters factory and started talking with Enrique “Don Kiki” Berger. One thing led to another and eventually they came up with the Paul Stulac cigar line. I have seen a little talk of these on a few forums and when I was at Buckhead Cigar Club in Buckhead (Atlanta) GA this December for the 2011 ATL Tweetup I saw they had them on hand. I figured, why not try one. I smoked the Phantom and liked it alot. The next day, I tried the Angel as well. I liked it too, but the Phantom seemed to be a little more on my wavelength. I had another Phantom the last day there and I brought one home to review.



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Gran Habano GAR Opium STK

Another release from Gran Habano under the STK series this year is the Opium. The Opium is a limited release cigar with only 1000 boxes released. Coming in at $9.00, that’s not bad at all for such a limited release. The Opium exhibits a very unique hybrid wrapper of corojo and habano seed tobacco that produced a very dark brown, oily wrapper. The filler is a mystery, only being list as “mix of unique fillers”. So, how did it all turn out. For me, not to great. The cigar had a very rich, deep earthy flavor with some wood notes, but that wasn’t all. It got very bitter for me after about the first inch and never let up. When Gran Habano has something like the Zulu Zulu STK out there, for cheaper I might add, I would much rather spend my money on that. Watch the video for more in depth analysis.