In July of 2020 J.C. Newman would introduce a cigar that would quickly release cult status. Yagua is the Elaphant Man of the cigar world, but yet it is sought after by smokers each time it is released. Available in one size, a 6 x 54 Toro. The cigar is designed to based on the memory of a Cuban cigar from the 1940s. Lazaro Lopez, general manager of J.C. Newman’s PENSA factory created this to […]
My journey to the Protocol Cyber Crimes Unit goes back, way back. I was still living in Miami when the concept branding for Protocol Cigars was created. Shortly after I moved to New Hampshire and if you’re familiar with that podcast I was on, every year around this time of year the host of the show would go on a tirade about a cigar with a wick at the end. I think the one thing […]
The Black Label Trading Company Orthodox is an exclusive cigar that was made available only to retailers who attending the PCA 2024 trade show that occurred in March in Las Vegas. Available in three sizes; Short Robusto (4.5 x 52 / $12.50), Corona Gorda (5 x 46 / $12.50) and Toro (5 3/4 x 50 / $13.00). Each size is limited to 900 boxes. According to James Brown, creator of Black Label Trading Co./Black Works […]
The Wise Man Maduro like the Wise Man Corojo was re-branded and re-blended for 2024. Foundation Cigars the company that makes these lines took the production of one of their signature cigars from Aganorsa Leaf and moved production down the road to My Father Cigars S.A. No official reason for the change was given but Foundation has ceased all production with the former. Whenever a company makes a totally new cigar of an existing brand […]
The La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Reserva was released 12 years ago and it features a San Andres wrapper before San Andres was the darling of the industry. Back around 2018 the cigar underwent the first design change and somewhere over the last year or so the cigar had a third change adapting blue as the primary color versus the red that adorns the cigar we are reviewing today. For whatever reason my local […]
El Pulpo comes from Artesano del Tobacco a company that also makes Viva la Viva. While the company doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, who am I to judge the Fakih brothers and their 25 years of experience including running one the most premier cigar shops in the country, Cigar Inn. From around 2005 until I moved to Miami in 2012 I could be found at Cigar Inn where I was a regular that was […]
The Wise Man Corojo is a new cigar with a tie in to an old cigar and a lesson in poor marketing. El Güegüense will go down has one of the worst names in the history of cigars. The cigar which was named after a satirical play written in the 16th Century was difficult to pronounce and spell making it a very hard name for the typical cigar smoker to grasp. It wasn’t until the […]
Ask your cigar store customer what TAA is they would be hard pressed to guess anything but Tits & Ass. Ask a cigar geek and they would tell you TAA is a limited edition release that comes out each year. Some might know there is more then Tatuaje that do these releases, but many would have a hard time naming the others after The Angels Anvil. Right or wrong, this is the perceptions for many […]
Rojas Cigars is back celebrating Cinco de Mayo this time with their own release simply called Cinco de Mayo LE. In 2023, the company released Elote for United Cigars, a version of the Firecracker which translated to Street Corn. Spoiler Alert: This cigar was exponentially better. According to Noel Rojas this will be the first of an annual series to commemorate the Cinco de Mayo holiday which celebrates Mexico’s victory over the 2nd French Empire at the […]
The Rojas 10th Anniversary celebrates the American dream achieved by Noel Rojas. Noel Rojas left Cuba in the middle of the night on a homemade raft that would take him to Mexico where he would make the journey as a Cuban immigrant to the United States. I first met him when I lived in Miami at a cigar shop owned by Nestor Miranda and his son-in-law Jason Wood. It was here we would develop a […]