Cigar Podcast and Cigar Reviews
Some days, my current occupation requires a great deal of driving for things that *should* be handled remotely but can’t due to the environment in which I work. It’s those days where one just has to sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet of six hours’ worth of commute for a one hour meeting. Most would consider that burdensome. I consider it an opportunity to have about three cigars today…..
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Welcome to Half Ashed Episode 106, featuring the Quesada España Ninfa as our Cigar of the Week. This week’s cigar was one of Craig’s selections, and he has this to say about it:
In 2011 my life changed. My wife was expecting our first child and I was planning all of the Dad-to-be things we were going to do together later in life. One of those things was which box of cigars I was going to share upon my son’s birth; and with him later in life. In February of that year, I started down the path to figuring that out. I had just arrived in Santiago, DR on my first trip to the Dominican. It was to be a cigar filled, last hurrah before fatherhood settled things down a bit. At the MATASA factory I sat in a room listening to Manolo Quesada talk about the prototype cigar I was smoking. That cigar was a Robusto Espana and months before my son Luke was born, I vowed to make these cigars part of the birth of any & all of my future children. In May of that year I bought a box of Robustos and later followed it up with a box of Coronas to celebrate my second son, Liam.
Tonight’s CotW is a different vitola from this very special line; the Ninfa. A “pencil” sized cigar, these check in at 6-⅞”x32. An Ecuadorian Arapiraca wraps a Dominican binder and DR/Nica filler. These cigars are filled with beautiful cocoa, Tea and spice flavors and definitely bring a minor pepper note as well. They need to be smoked with a delicate touch but reward mightely if you behave. They’re part of Quesada’s “12 boxes for 12 retailers” project where they give one box of special Espanas to one different retailer, each month for a year. These are from the 2014 release and are from Winston’s Humidor in Midlothian, Virginia. Side note: Kevin Edmiston was on the trip with me in the Dominican where we sampled the pre-release Espanas. We were guests of Cigar Tourism (Colin Ganley, Twin Engines coffee) and enjoyed a spectacular visit.
Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga has a new owner and a new shop-exclusive in the wings. Tobacconist Mike Hunter has obtained part ownership in the home of the Chattanooga Tweet Up, and was an integral part of orchestrating La Aurora’s partnering with them for the Cien Años lancero. The cameroon-wrapped cigar is 7.5”x40, the same as the original Cien Años production, and features the same blend. MSRP is set at $11.99 per stick in boxes of 25.
Pete Johnson teased a new event sampler that’s coming in the next few weeks. It will feature 5, 5.5”x52 robustos from the La Riqueza, Tat Black, Havana VI, Cabaiguan and Tattoo lines, housed in one of the Tatuaje melamine ashtrays (not a fan of those ashtrays, personally). It will initially be available for sale at Tatuaje events, but could become more widely available later. Pricing TBA.
In what is probably pretty normal but seems like strange bedfellows to me, Romeo y Julieta has partnered with Boutique Blends to produce their next line – the Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Aging Room. It will be made at Jochy Blanco’s Las Palmas factory in the Dominican Republic and will be available in three vitolas – 5×48 Copla, 6×54 Capriccio, and 6×52 Cantaor. Total production is set at about 250,000 cigars, which will retail around the $10 mark. The line will launch in April, and will be distributed by Altadis.
As posted earlier this week on Half Ashed, Viva Republica has released a special event cigar for the DC Tweet Up – a culebra. While culebras are nothing new, I love the fact that this one features one of each from the Viva Republica core lines (Rapture, Guerrilla Warfare, and Rapture Maduro). The cigars will be 5.75”x39, and will retail for $18 per set (=$6/cigar). Only 1,000 sets will be made available.
We spoke a bit about Viaje last week, and in the time since they announced two upcoming releases, The Señor Andres’ Chicharrones and The Jalapeño. The Chicharrones is interesting in that the line is actually 3 different cigars. They feature similar blends, but with differing wrappers (Nicaraguan corojo, criollo and maduro). The 4.5”x48 sticks will be made at TABSA using all-AGANORSA tobacco. The Jalapeño is a 4.875”x51 figurado out of Raices Cubana. No specifics about the blend were released.
L’Atelier is releasing a new line called the Cote D’Or (Gold Coast) next month. There will be a soft launch at Federal Cigar’s 94th Anniversary this week, but full launch will come in April. It will reportedly be a soft-pressed churchill, blended around Pelo D’Oro. Only a couple thousand boxes will be produced, and the line will retail around $16 per cigar.
Craig
Club Havana Laguito #2 – Young but beautiful. I can’t wait to smoke them on the show. More appropriately, I can’t wait for Kip to smoke them!
Espana Corona – My son Liam was born in December of 2013. I forgot to smoke my first Espana Corona from his box around his birthday so I’m doing it this week to celebrate the impending close of a hellacious professional project.
Kip
Don Pepin Garcia Blue – I learned some interesting revelations about myself concerning the lancero, toro, and robusto….
Next episode we will be featuring Unbanded #021, from listener DC. Be sure to tune in Friday night at 9:30pm EST and hang out with us in the chatroom during the show. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us via the “Contact Us!” tab at the side of this page, or at the following emails:[email protected] [email protected]. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions you’d like answered, comments to make…or even compliments and complaints. We love to get your emails! Also, remember you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, which can be found in the Half Ashed Archive. You can download this week’s audio directly below (right-click “Download” and save), find us on iTunes, or subscribe with any podcast app at our RSS Feed. Video, as always, will be available at the Half Ashed YouTube Channel.
P.S. – If you have unbanded suggestions or contributions, you can get those to us [email protected]. This email address goes directly to my wife, so you can simply suggest an unbanded cigar for her to source, or send me an email to [email protected] if you have something you’d like to send in. I will provide an address to send them. Thanks!
Yesterday, Viva Republica™ announced the impending release of a Limited Edition Culebra. Only one thousand (1,000) coffins each containing a traditional three-piece culebra have been produced, shipping in retailer 5-packs (5 coffins per pack). The Culebra is comprised of three differing blends, featuring the Company’s Rapture, Rapture Maduro and Guerrilla Warfare brands.
Each of the cigars that comprise the culebra have a length of 5.75,” and 39-ring gauge. Inside each five piece package is a memo that identifies the three components by wrapper shade and discloses the blend breakdown for each cigar. The details for each cigar are as follows:
Wrapper – Ecuadorian HVA
Binder – Dominican Republic
Fillers – Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Peru
Wrapper – Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder – Dominican Republic/Mexico
Fillers – Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Wrapper – Mexican San Andres
Binder – Dominican Republic
Fillers – Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Peru
Additional details on the card describe how to diferentiate the blends: “The lightest wrapper is the Rapture Natural. The one featuring a slightly darker colored wrapper is Guerrilla Warefare. The darkest wrapper is the Rapture Maduro blend. We could have color-coded them with more ribbons – but why take the fun out of it?” –Jason Holly
“I’ve always been intrigued by and have enjoyed culebras and wanted to use creating one as an opportunity to feature three of our core lines,” said Jason Holly, owner of Viva Republica.
The cigar(s) will officially launch during the DC Tweet Up on Saturday, March 14 at Tobaccology in Manassas, VA from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The limited run has an MSRP of $18 (excluding applicable local tax).
“Pricing was always a consideration. These are time-consuming to produce. But I wanted to keep value pricing so [more] people would try a culebra,” said Holly. I think their typical cost could be a bit of a consumer barrier.”
Viva Republica is exclusively distributed in the United States by Miami Cigar & Co.
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Welcome to Episode 105 of Half Ashed, featuring the La Flor Dominicana 1994 as our Cigar of the Week. Here was my description for the cigar:
The “1994” was launched this past year to commemorate the Gomez’ family’s 20 years in the cigar business. There are 4 vitolas in the regular production lineup (which is what we’re smoking tonight): Conga (5×52), Aldaba (6×58), Rumba (6.5×52) and Mambo (7×54). There is also one 6×54 Limited vitola that shipped in beer steins. Unlike the regular production, this version carries a maduro Mexican San Andres wrapper. Tonight’s cigar, however, has a *natural* version of the same wrapper over Dominican binder and fillers. After having smoked a dozen or so of these in its young life, I’ve had a strange wandering opinion of this cigar…..but more on that as the show progresses. They range from $6.50-7.00 in the Tampa market in box quantities of 20. The limited Beer Stein edition, if you can still find them, runs about $225 for the stein and 20 cigars.
From Jeff Borysiewicz: Big day for us at Corona Cigar and our Florida Sun Grown tobacco team. It’s been nearly 40 years since the last cigar leaf was grown in the Sunshine State. Willie Herrera and the Drew Estate team put together a pair of outstanding blends using #Cuban seed, Florida Sun Grown tobacco from our 2013 inaugural crop. There is less than 800 lbs of this unique tobacco so any cigars that use FSG will be a true micro blend in every sense of the word. We look forward to the near future when we can share these cigars and this fruits of our labor and dedication with other retailers and cigar aficionados PICTURE
Governor Tom Wolf of PA has proposed a $30 billion state spending plan that would, in part, rely on hefty tobacco taxes for funding. This would include a cigar tax at 40% of wholesale, in drastic contrast to the current status of having no cigar tax. The plan includes a $1 per pack increase on cigarettes (from $1.60 to $2.60 per pack), and 40% of wholesale on smokeless tobacco, large cigars, loose tobacco and e-cigarettes. The governor expects an additional $358 Million of revenue from the cigarette tax and $84 million from cigars and OTP. The cigar retail industry currently thrives in PA, largely due to the fact that surrounding states’ higher tax rates have driven them to the state. Retailers have pointed this out, and some report even considering a move to Florida should the tax be passed into legislation. PA is home to large cigar retailers Famous Smoke Shop and Cigars International, as well as numerous other smaller retail operations. STORY HERE
Crowned Heads will be releasing another state-exclusive cigar, the Yellow Rose for Texas. The blend matches that of previously released Tennessee Waltz – CT broadleaf wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler blend. It will retail for $9.50 per cigar, and only be available from Texas retailers with Crowned Heads accounts. Shipping late March/early April
For the 6th year in a row, EP Carillo will be releasing a Short Run blend. The line will be shipping some time in the next couple of weeks. Unlike earlier iterations, the 2015 Short Run will feature a Nicaraguan wrapper – a 98 Criollo coming out of Jalapa. The binder will be Nicaraguan and filler blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican leaf. They will be delivered in 24 count boxes and three vitolas: 5×50 Napoleon, 6×52 Vencedores, and 6×60 Imperios.
Before the 10th installment of Smoke Inn’s Microblend Series has even shipped, the 11th has been announced. It will be the Little Big Delicious, produced via Room101 for the series. The blend will be the same as the Big Delicious from 2013, only shorter at 4.5”: Ec Habano wrapper over Honduran corojo binder and filler mix from Honduras, the DR, Brazil and Nicaragua.
There will be an extension to one of my favorites “go-to” cigars – the My Father Flor de las Antillas. A maduro version is slated to be released at the 94th Anniversary party for Federal Cigars in New Hampshire. The cigar will be in a 4.5”x50 vitola, and will be available in-store at the shop’s part March 14th, and on the website March 16th. The original Instagram poster remarked that you won’t see the line again for the next year and a half after the celebration…
Quesada Espana Madness! CDM cigars and Federal Cigar are each getting their own special release of the Espana; a beli-lance for CDM (and a new and a Petit beli for the latter. Quesada also announced that a regular lance will be released again to Stogies in Houston. These are a “special” special release having been wrapped in a 3rd band specifically labeled H-Town to celebrate the shops great success and loyal following for the pencil sized vitola.
Habanos Man of the Year talk: Three awards were given for Habanos Man of the Year. Gary Heathcott, an American freelance writer who has supported humanitarian aid to Cuba and other Latin nations, won in the communications category; George Fereos, who owns and operates the Casa del Habano in Cyprus, won in the business category; and Rogelio Ortuzar, a Cuban farmer who has been producing tobacco for more than 40 years, earned the nod in the production category. From CA
Habanos news: The new Anejados are out; and they’re rather controversial. Word on the street is that they’re just a regular production cigar, picked out of the escaparate, and slapped with a special blend. RyJ Torpedo & Montecristo Churchill.
Craig –
CroMagnon Breuil Panetela – Not my favorite vitola in the line. There were moments of that beautiful spicy sweet profile but it seemed somewhat ashy and overly peppery for my preference.
Kip –
Room101 Big Payback – Underfilled with a squishy head. The flavors were pleasant enough, though. I just had to smoke it with kid gloves. For $4.79 it was a respectable smoke….at $6+ I’d pass on it next time. Healthy but manageable spice; entertaining core of black tea and leather. A bit of a wonky finish though: long lasting but almost papery at times. [EDIT: In the final 3rd, became impossible to keep lit. Bummer.] The second I tried was markedly better, but I’d still be reluctant to pick up more….maybe.
Next episode we will be featuring one of Craig’s selections, the Quesada España Ninfa. Be sure to tune in Friday night at 9:30pm EST and hang out with us in the chatroom during the show. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us via the “Contact Us!” tab at the side of this page, or at the following emails:[email protected] [email protected]. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions you’d like answered, comments to make…or even compliments and complaints. We love to get your emails! Also, remember you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, which can be found in the Half Ashed Archive. You can download this week’s audio directly below (right-click “Download” and save), find us on iTunes, or subscribe with any podcast app at our RSS Feed. Video, as always, will be available at the Half Ashed YouTube Channel.
P.S. – If you have unbanded suggestions or contributions, you can get those to us by [email protected]. This email address goes directly to my wife, so you can simply suggest an unbanded cigar for her to source, or send me an email to [email protected] if you have something you’d like to send in. I will provide an address to send them. Thanks!
This afternoon, Viaje has taken to the social media airwaves with a couple of imminent releases coming down the pike – the Viaje Chicharrones and Jalapeño.
Photo by Viaje Cigars
First up is the Chicharronnes, produced at the TABSA (Fernandez) factory. The line will be available in three different “flavors” – Original, Bold and Spicy. The differing blends respectively feature Corojo, Maduro and Criollo wrapper leaf. Per the posted caption, all tobacco in the line is “grown and raised on AGANORSA farms in Nicaragua. Each box will contain 90 Chicharrones, which will be 4.5” x 48.
Photo by Viaje Cigars
The second notice from the company detailed the Jalapeño, which utilizes tobacco grown in Honduras. The Jalapeño will be available in boxes of 25, and will be a 4.875″ x 51 figurado. They will be rolled at Raices Cubanas. No specifics were given for blend, only that “By taking our time, using traditional farming methods and doing things the old fashioned way, we’ve perfected the ultimate balance of heat and flavor in our products.”
Both lines will be shipping March 16th to all authorized Viaje retailers.
Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigars has announced an expansion of the company’s sales force. Two regional manager positions have been established and filled with industry veteran Strom Farbarik and Carolee Martin. Owner Roberto Pelayo Duran continues to strengthen his sales team after earlier additions of National Sales Manager Miguel Schoedel, Jack Toraño (both displaced by the sale of Toraño Family Cigars) and Frank Cuden.
Carolee Martin comes to Roberto P. Duran after having served as the Department of Defense Gs 15 Senior Advisor for Special Operations in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. While in Afghanistan, Carolee established a strong passion for cigars that led to her becoming the first female president of the Tali-banned Cigar Aficionado Club, Camp Gibson Chapter. She was recognized there for her contributions and inducted into the Xikar for Life Hall of Fame.
Strom Farbarik’s passion for cigars was established in the early 1990’s when he served as manager for Mike Ditka’s Restaurant, after which he was recruited by CAO Cigars. During his tenure at CAO, he quickly became a top sales representative, eventually being awarded “Salesman of the Year” honors for the company in 2010. Strom will have responsibility for sales in NJ, DC, VA, WV, MD, DE, NC, and SC.
Strom related, “I am excited to be part of the Roberto P Duran Premium Cigar team. As passionate as I am about cigars, it is only fitting that I work within a boutique company, which handles its cigars from seed to finished product. Roberto’s knowledge of tobacco and cigar making is impressive, and I look forward to expanding the brand to new consumers.”
Owner Roberto Duran said “As a boutique cigar company, it is important that our team members feel as passionate about premium cigars as I do. Strom and Carolee fit perfectly, in [our] already solid team. I look forward to working alongside them, to further expand Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigars.”
Roberto P. Duran began his life’s work in his homeland of Havana, Cuba where tobacco grabbed a hold of him, and never let go. Supervising the production of cigar manufacturing in Cuba was only the beginning as he later went on to assemble and manage distribution of all Cuban cigar brands for Asia at The Pacific Cigar Company Ltd. The creation of Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigars has given Roberto the platform to introduce a brand of cigars that offer the same quality, construction, and detail which he exceeded from those he supervised while in Cuba. Roberto P. Duran’s brands include Azan Cigars, Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigar, Neya, and Baracoa.
For more information about Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigars, please visit www.Robertodurancigars.com.
[Editor: In a press release yesterday, United Cigar Group has announced that they will be releasing a new limited edition cigar for pi Day. Underserved by most outside mathematical circles, the day doesn’t usually garner much attention from the masses….but who wouldn’t want another cigar to try out?]
Pi Day is the unofficial holiday held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is celebrated on March 14, the month/day date format as 3/14; since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most significant digits of pi. March 14 is also the birthday of Albert Einstein so the two events are sometimes celebrated together. This year (2015) is even more significant as 15 is the very next consistent after 3.14
There are a variety of ways of celebrating Pi Day and most of them include eating pie and discussing the relevance of pi. Pi Day is often celebrated with pies, given that pi and pie are homophones. The first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, then consuming fruit pies.
Not to be left out and appropriately so, United Cigar is releasing 3,141 Pi Cigars to be sold on 3/14/15 via United Cigar Group retailers.
“The circumference of a cigar is pi and we should not be left out on this one” says David Garofalo of United Cigar, “as the next time this will happen to this level is in 100 years from now and I don’t expect to be around for that one… so it’s now or never”.
The cigars were manufactured at the Leyendas Cubanas cigar factory in the Dominican Republic in 2014 and have been resting for a full year. They feature a Ecuador Connecticut wrapper over Sumatra binder with fillers from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The suggested retail price before local taxes is $10 per cigar.
United Cigar works with top cigar manufacturers throughout the world to create unique cigars built exclusively for the premium cigar retailer. With brands like La Gianna, Garofalo and Fleur de la Reine, United Cigar provides cigar products that are exclusive and were needed, but not found to be available anywhere… so they were created. United Cigar… Finding what is missing in the cigar industry, then creating it. United Cigar is also the exclusive US distributor for Atabey, Byron and Bandolero. They can be found on the web at www.unitedcigargroup.com.
A few weeks ago, General Cigar began teasing details about a new blend – Punch Signature. The Honduran-produced line was released this week and will continue as a full time regular production item.
Master Blender Agustin Garcia said the blend “was inspired by the original Punch,” and that it “mixes tradition with modern tastes.” He went on to say the team had “spent three years developing the blend.”
The original artwork developed for the first Punch cigars in the 19th century has been re-created for the current release. On the reverse, the band features Mr. Punch and his dog Toby – harkening back to the original Mr. Punch character.
The Punch Signature box features both traditional and new attributes. It is adorned with blocked coloration and an acrylic window that showcases the band, even when closed. The lid carries the same script typeface as was originally used over a century ago. Each cabinet-style box holds 18 cigars.
Subsequent to the packaging details, General revealed blend components. Blender Agustin Garcia and team attempted to stay true to the original Punch blend by using tobaccos from the same countries of origin. Garcia said, “Punch Signature is inspired by Punch original blend. Think of it as a brother who has a lot of fire in him, but also respects tradition and the family name.”
In 2012, the team found a small amount of Ecuadoran tobacco that they wanted to use. However, this batch was in short supply to produce a full time addition to the Punch lineup. They worked with a grower to cultivate a special Ecuadoran Corojo wrapper for the Signature. This wrapper is related to the original Cuban Corojo seed, and has been processed and aged during the intervening time. It reportedly has a great deal of natural oil, which gives it an elastic, silky texture and hints of cocoa with an earthy spice.
The binder is a proprietary Connecticut Habano leaf. No further details were available. The filler blend is made up of both Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco. They are of the same variety as the original Punch blend, with one key difference: Some of the components are quite aged, while others less so. Leaves with more age are intended to bring flavor and balance, while the younger tobacco is meant to bring more strength. This carries with the Punch Signature theme of delivering a mix of tradition and modern taste.
As mentioned above, the Punch Signature has already begun shipping. The line is available in four vitolas:
Robusto (5” x 54, $6.79)
Gigante (6” x 60, $7.39)
Rothschild (4.5” x 50, $5.39)
Torpedo (5.75” x 52, $6.99)
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Good day, and welcome to Episode 104 of Half Ashed! This week, we are featuring the Tatuaje RC184 as our Cigar of the Week, generously furnished by Craig. Here’s his description of it:
The RC184 is a Salomon vitola from Tatuaje’s Reserva lineage. Checking in at 184 mm this behemoth is roughly 7-½”x57 and from a 2009 box I purchased shortly after being rolled. The cigar’s prefix stands for “Retro Cuban” and is an effective description of the suave style of flavors I typically attribute to Cuban cigars. Despite falling under the Reserva line of Tats, the blend does not venture far into the coffee and cocoa dominant world that many other Tat Reservas tend to reside in. Lovely orange peel citrus flavors accompany a light espresso core while being accompanied by terrific cherry notes and an occasional caramel sweetness. Despite having a reputation for being a ball buster, I don’t find them to be all too strong. A great, well rounded limited stick from Tatuaje.
(Maybe) the final update in Nebraska. Governor Pete Ricketts, on the final day to do so, signed the bill allowing cigar & pipe smoking in cigar bars into law. It was effective immediately, so light up Nebraska! STORY HERE
Oettinger Davidoff announced today that they have acquired additional farmland in Jamastran (Honduras) and Condega (Nicaragua). They have additionally purchased land near their box factory upon which to build a new factory. Once the new factory has been completed, the existing one will be divested. They have added about 150 hectares (~370 acres). The new factory will be larger and help cover the 60% growth in production needs over the past few years. Story via Cigar Journal
Tampa is getting a Davidoff store. A big one. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Jeff Borysiewicz and wife Tanya will be opening the store late this year. It will cover 5,000 square feet of space and be entirely humidifed. As would be expected in this part of the world, it will feature both indoor and outdoor lounge space, as well as the typical lockers, and a full bar. This is the fourth announced Davidoff store opening this year, along with others in Houston, Atlanta and Manhattan.
Pete Johnson has posted up that his TAA exclusive will make its 5th appearance later this year. According to halfwheel, this year will be another re-release of the 2011 blend (hoowahh!), featuring a CT broadleaf wrapper in a single 5.625 x 54 vitola.
Speaking of halfwheel, they did an interesting piece this week after Habanos S.A. made some (very) bold claims about their expectations for the American market once the embargo lifts. HSA execs claim that they believe they can conservatively capture 25-30% of the American market very quickly, and further stated they would take 70% of the market over time. Considering the fact that Cuba would have to immediately grow production by about 50% of 2013 levels to even get into the 25-30% ballpark, I’m pretty doubtful those numbers would bear out….or if they do, I’d imagine we’d see some other issues with the product.
Guest on our celebratory 100th episode, Colin Ganley, just received a major nomination in the world of cigars, The Habanos Man of the Year. Typically awarded at the Habanos festival closing Gala, the award represents an individual’s contributions to the world of CUban Cigars. Good for Colin. More to come after tonight’s ceremony.
Craig
Blind Man’s Puff #275: 6”x54 box press (smoked for BMP cooperative reviews)
Kip
United Cigar “Garofalo” – this cigar put my review format to the test. Connecticut wrapped cigars are not typically in my wheelhouse – and neither are most Perdomo offerings (the blender, or at least leaf supplier, of this cigar). Trudging ahead, I found it still to be an entertaining cigar. In fact, I would even consider keeping a few around if the opportunity presented itself. For CT fans, it’s definitely worth checking out at its low pricepoint of $6.79.
illusione ECCJ 20th. My last of these before they’re on the show…but I’m digging them.
La Hoja Autentico maduro (original from 2yr ago). This fell a bit flat for me. Extremely flaky ash; “plain” flavors that leaned on ashy at times throughout the smoke. I’m not sure if the blend has changed on their re-launch following the trademark issues with the name Flores, but if it hasn’t these are definitely not appealing to me with a $14.50 price tag…
Next episode we will be featuring one of Kip’s selections, the La Flor Dominicana 1994. Be sure to tune in Friday night at 9:30pm EST and hang out with us in the chatroom during the show. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us via the “Contact Us!” tab at the side of this page, or at the following emails:[email protected] [email protected]. Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions you’d like answered, comments to make…or even compliments and complaints. We love to get your emails! Also, remember you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, which can be found in the Half Ashed Archive. You can download this week’s audio directly below (right-click “Download” and save), find us on iTunes, or subscribe with any podcast app at our RSS Feed. Video, as always, will be available at the Half Ashed YouTube Channel.
P.S. – If you have unbanded suggestions or contributions, you can get those to us by sending [email protected]. This email address goes directly to my wife, so you can simply suggest an unbanded cigar for her to source, or send me an email to [email protected] if you have something you’d like to send in. I will provide an address to send them. Thanks!
So I’m doing my taxes today. That’s never fun, but it gave me the chance to dig out a CFC2013 Angel’s Share lancero…in portrayal of the extra prayers I’ll need just to get through the process mentally intact. Not to rub my illustrious co-host’s face in it too much, but holy cow these are flippin’ fantastic. Fuente just has a way of striking at the core of my wheelhouse in terms of flavor…and construction…and blending….and….
I’m a fan of the Angel’s Share in general, but at the moment I’m rueful of the fact that I have no more of these lanceros to enjoy. I’m going to get back at it and try to savor every last puff. What are y’all smoking this afternoon?