My Father Archives | Page 2 of 2

Half Ashed Episode 065: Tatuaje El Triunfador Lancero

May 13, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Good evening, folks. I apologize for the late post this week…I was distracted by (quite frankly) more important things like family time and making a living. This week on Half Ashed, we’re smoking the Tatuaje El Triunfador lancero, one of Craig’s favorite picks. We covered several late-breaking news items, including new cigars from Camacho and Alec Bradley, the Chattanooga Tweetup, Tatuaje, legislative updates, and Nicholas Melillo’s departure from Drew Estate. As always, we also discussed what we’ve been smoking and reviewed some listener emails. So, tune in and enjoy a couple hours of cigar shenanigans!

**Be sure and check out the new and evolving Half Ashed forum as well. We’d love to have you stop by and drop a line!**

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be Unbanded #015, from Jacob Pinkas, so be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at ~~Cigar Federation~~ ****We will temporarily only have chat access on our Show Page on halfashed.com. We have outgrown our previous chat, and it has been overloading the server and causing various and sundry issues with our hosting provider. In fact, they shut down our site this week during the show. I have installed a stopgap chat for the time being, but it will not frame into the Cigar Federation page. We will remedy this as soon as possible.****, where you can catch us recording and participate in the chatroom. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following emails: [email protected] or [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), or find us on iTunes to subscribe. Video, as always, will be available at the CigFed Half Ashed Video Archive.

P.S. – If you have unbanded suggestions or contributions, you can get those to us by sending an email to [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!

Half Ashed Episode 062: La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor

April 22, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Good day, folks. I apologize for the late post; I’m still on the road until tomorrow. If you caught the show live, you’ll know that I was broadcasting from my parents’ garage in Tennessee. I’ll be brief for the show summary, and just tell you that we smoked the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor “Magnifico.” It is a delicious 6″X52 offering from Ashton (produced by My Father). Listen in to the show to catch our thoughts on it. We had updates on previous stories concerning the Fuente Casa Cuba and Kelner cigar we smoked as the CoTW in Episode 061. In the news, we covered items from Viaje, Room101, Tatuaje, and Min Ron Nee’s upcoming 2nd Edition of “Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post Revolution Havana Cigars.” There were a couple of interesting tidbits in “what we’ve been smoking,” – notably, the Caucus houseblend from Georgetown Tobacco in Washington, DC. Finally, we covered a viewer question from the forum.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be an Unbanded (#014) from Maria Elena Gonzalez – and we are super stoked about it. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), where you can catch us recording and participate in the chatroom. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following emails: [email protected] or [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), or find us on iTunes to subscribe. Video, as always, will be available at the Half Ashed Half Ashed YouTube Channel.

Half Ashed Episode 050: Tatuaje Petite Tatuaje Reserva

January 26, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode 050 of Half Ashed. This week, we’re smoking one of Craig’s favorite cigars, the Tatuaje Petite Tatuaje Reserva. Here is Craig’s summary of this cigar:

A small cigar that displays all the charisma & flavor of its larger brethren. In the spirit of the Tatuaje website I think it fitting to define this cigar as the above. Often overlooked because of its size, 4-½”x32 the Petit Tat Reserva is slightly expensive but not because of a lesser level of quality. Cherry, leather, espresso, chocolate & citrus explode from these little guys. This may be my favorite tatuaje because its so easy to cater to exactly what, or how long you are looking to be smoking. Only have 20 minutes? This will work. Have two hours? Smoke multiple. The Nicaraguan filler & binder are wrapped in the typical Connecticut broadleaf maduro that has made the Tat reservas so sought after.

As a matter of show housekeeping, I had a few announcements at the front end of the show:

Recently, listener Steve McHenry did the Cigarmy CRA promo. Since then, I have had 2 more people use my number, but haven’t told me who they are. If you do this, you have to tell me! Otherwise I won’t know where to send the cigars….I have 3 people that have used my name so far for 2014. I only do the promo until I reach 25….
There has begun to be some activity over on the Half Ashed Forum. Keep it up! We’d be glad to let you all hang out there and learn from/teach the rest of us as you see fit. Heck, anybody can post up a pic of what they’re smoking today at the very least…..and it has Tapatalk installed for those who want to visit on their phones.
Smoking Soldier…..you haven’t sent me your address. I still have this $50 CFCF Toast Across America Pack for you from our most recent giveaway.….

We had a few technical issues during this episode, with Craig dropping from the Hangout. Hopefully, that was a one-time problem and we won’t see it again. We also covered several news items, legislative updates, and hit a few rabbit trails that turned out to be some interesting discussion. Finally, we covered what we’ve been smoking this week – several for each of us from generous listeners (Thanks!).

Next week’s Cigar of The Week will be an Unbanded from William “Cigar Coop” Cooper. Will will also be joining us on the show to talk about it. As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), where you can catch us recording and participate in the chatroom. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following email addresses: [email protected] or [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), or find us on iTunes to subscribe. Video, as always, will be available at the CigFed Half Ashed Video Archive.

Half Ashed Episode 047: We’re Back! Cabaiguan Maduro

January 4, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Welcome back! Craig and I were both recuperating from illness last week, so after making the first 46 in a row we had to miss an episode. But, we’re back this week, smoking the Cabaiguan Maduro as our Cigar of the Week. This is one of Craig’s favorites, but tune in and see how well his palate has recovered after two weeks of healing.

In the news this week ,we covered stories from 1502 Cigars, General Cigar’s new collaboration with Jay-Z, Ezra Zion, and Quesada. We also talked over an article from the UK Telegraph which speculated that cigar smoking as a whole could die off within the next 12 years. We did go ahead and talk over what we’ve been smoking – which amounts to very little with the recent illnesses. What we did discuss some was how we observed the evolution of a palate back to a normal state. Surprisingly, this has taken me far longer than I would have ever dreamed. A full 9 days after I felt healthy, I am still experiencing some difference between expectation and reality in cigars with which I am quite familiar. Additionally, we editorialized over a couple of recent observations I’ve made about the industry in general. Lastly, we made up ground from last week and announced each of our favorite 10 cigars from 2013 – with some caveats. It’s our list, so we get to make the rules :).

1. These are not necessarily new cigars for the year (although some were), but the cigars we simply enjoyed the most throughout.

2. We limited the selection to cigars that were either Cigars of the Week for Half Ashed Episodes, or were discussed enough to have been made mention in the show notes. If we did not talk about it during at least one episode, it was not considered for our lists.

3. I (Kip) purposefully removed the Fuente cigars we smoked (858 Sungrown, Unnamed Reserve (2012), and Casa Cuba) from consideration out of my known affinity (sheer bias) for Fuente products.

4. There were a number of cigars that probably should have made the list, and were discussed in the show as honorable mentions/best values/”we just couldn’t narrow it down” cigars. These were: Miami Cigar/Nestor Miranda Casa Miranda Chapter Two; Drew Estate Nica Rustica; illusione ECCJ; Reinado Grand Empire Reserve; Michael Stewart’s Fire Cured #7

Half Ashed Top Ten Cigar for 2013 (in no particular order)

Craig	Kip
Davidoff Nicaragua	Tatuaje Belle Encre
Fuente Unnamed Reserve (2012)	2005 Padron Aniversario Natural corona
EPC Short Run 2011	TL Johnson Tempio
TL Johnson Tempio	KILO (Barry Stein)
La Tradicion Cubana Corona	Oliva Serie V Maduro
Ezra Zion Tantrum	Leccia Tobacco Black
Bolivar Gold Medal	2005 Ramon Allones Eminencia
Gran Habano #5	RoMaCraft Intemperance BA
RoMaCraft Aquitaine	Ezra Zion Jamais Vu (Inception)
Tatuaje Belle Encre	Cuenca 5 Anniversary

Next week’s Cigar of The Week will be a surprise, as we are nearing the end of our initial trade-off for show cigars. We are open for suggestions – so if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), where you can catch us recording and participate in the chatroom. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following email addresses: [email protected] or [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), or find us on iTunes to subscribe. Video, as always, will be available at the CigFed Half Ashed Video Archive.

Half Ashed Episode 031: Casa Miranda Chapter 2

September 8, 2013 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hello folks, and welcome to Half Ashed Episode 031, featuring the Casa Miranda Chapter Two and with guest Barry Stein of Miami Cigar. Barry was slated to join us for the whole show, but we had a bit of a mixup with a Miami storm that took down the power grid in Barry’s neighborhood. He was able to join us for a short time later in the show, when he went above and beyond the call of duty by driving down to Neighborhood Humidor and calling in on his phone. We very much appreciate his doing that; it was truly a stand-up thing to do and not leave us hanging. Check out the episode to get some great insight into Miami Cigar and their upcoming lines.

We cover the Chapter Two several times throughout the show, as well as a number of other cigars from this week’s selections – notably one other Miami Cigar offering, the Nestor Mirand Special Selection Exclusivo Regional. The NMSS Exclusivo is a geographically limited edition, only to be available in the midwest and only in 2500 of each of two vitolas. We also talked Barry’s upcoming release – the KILO – which you all definitely need to be on the lookout for.

Other topics included this week’s news and happenings, some trips you might want to consider taking in the near future, a minor rant from Kip – and our giveaway! This month’s giveaway of some phenomenal cigars goes to…John C. Craig. We’ll be getting those in the mail this week, so be on watch John.

Next week, we’ll have very special guests Bob McDuffee and Dale Roush, formerly of Dogwatch Cigar Radio. Craig will be out of town, so it will be just Kip, Bob, and Dale. Be sure to check back in then as these guys are the godfathers of cigar podcasting, and much of the credit due for the impetus to begin Half Ashed is owed to them. If you would like to contact us in the meantime, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following email addresses: [email protected] or [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), or find us on iTunes to subscribe. Video, as always, will be available at the CigFed Half Ashed Video Archive.

Episode 007: My Father Flor de las Antillas

March 25, 2013 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Welcome to Half Ashed Episode 007, everyone! Here’s a quick summary of this week’s show, but be sure to download or watch/listen through any of the means in the final paragraph of this post!

Half Ashed Cigar of the Week

Released last May (2012), the My Father Flor de las Antillas toro was named Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado in 2012. It takes its name from Cuba, sometimes called the “flower of the Antilles.” The FdlA is a Nicaraguan puro, and MSRP for singles is from $6.60 (robusto) – $8.70 (toro gordo 6X56). The line is available in four vitolas: robusto, toro, toro gordo, belicoso – and is moderately square pressed.

Kip: This is one of my favorite My Father sticks. Some of their blends – while enjoyable for me – can be a little potent for my tastes unless properly hydrated and fed. I love the “typical” My Father flavor family….just sometimes the blend strength weighs a little heavy on me. Tonight’s cigar, however, I find much lighter in strength than many of their other offerings. On occasion, I have had a couple of these that for some reason produced a great deal of dryness on the palate – demanding an accompanying glass of water. Other than that, I’ve had nothing but great experiences with this cigar. Never any construction issues; I get prevailing flavors in that tropical spice family, with the occasional wisp of white pepper and, at times, leather – or even some woodsiness. It reminds me of the DPG Blue at times – although it comes off just a notch or two more spicy than the Blue. I get a healthy (but manageable) bit of spice on the retrohale.

Craig: While I agree with Kip that this cigar has typically been well constructed, has slightly more spice than the DPG Blue and is a welcome addition to their regular lines, I do not find this cigar to be more approachable than others. I tend to think it is full flavored and filled with aggressive spices. It is not overpowering or galling but certainly does carve out its position in the minds of today’s smoker. A good cigar with complexity and interest. One that I enjoy very much.

Industry News this week

The Chattanooga Tweetup has been scheduled; tickets on sale April 1st. Kip will be in attendance again this year. Find details here.
Legislative Items
1. Bloomberg at it again – hide your tobacco! Or, not….
2. HR792 – This news has been out a couple weeks, but the legislation to protect our freedom to enjoy a fine cigar has a new name.
L’Atelier LAT46 hitting shelves as we speak…
Gary Griffith – There’s a great deal of news from Emilio Cigars this week. See my blog entry earlier this week.

What else are we smoking?

Craig – Punch Churchill, Cain Daytona 646

Kip – K.A. Kendall Spider, Montecristo #4, Viaje Supershot 12ga, Asylum 13 robusto – and the entire Tarazona/Cubanacan lineup….

Miscellany

We took some time to discuss a couple of emails this week:
1. From Bruce S., asking about the possibility of increased availability of Esencia Cigars now that Torano will be distributing them.
2. Ed T. asks about CFCF and how you, too can visit the Fuentes!
Also, tune in to hear Craig’s rant about a recent visit to a new tobacconist, and the soothing redemption of enjoying a movie with his cigar…..

Next week

Next week we feature Unbanded #002 as the Cigar of the Week – suggested by Jeff Curtis.

Again, thanks for tuning in everyone. Be sure to come back next week, when we’ll be taking a look at Unbanded #002, suggested by Jeff Curtis. In the meantime, If you would like to contact us, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following email addresses: [email protected] or [email protected]. Also, don’t forget to go back and listen to previous episodes, which can be found in the Half Ashed Archive. You can download this week’s audio directly above (right-click “Download” and save), or find us on iTunes. Video, as always, will be available on our YouTube Channel.