Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | Upcoming Schedule
Good evening, folks. Welcome to another episode of Half Ashed. I apologize in advance for such a late publication. We actually recorded this show during IPCPR last Sunday, but I have since been traveling without an internet connection; thus, I had an inability to post up the audio. The video from this show is available on our YouTube channel in its unedited form – about 10-15 minutes of which has no video/only audio. We experienced some early issues with connectivity and killed the video to save bandwidth on the convention hall’s wifi. We subsequently turned it back on, so I have left it posted for those who might want to look at our ugly mugs. We covered a number of news items, as well as some early IPCPR stories – although this was actually recorded in the first 3 hours of the tradeshow (so news was very limited at that time).
Ezra Zion Eminence
Our cigar of the week was the upcoming Ezra Zion Eminence, which we greatly enjoyed and covered our tasting notes near the end of this abbreviated show. We will be recording Episode 024 this upcoming Tuesday (July 23) once I have returned from a family trip….and I will make every effort to have that posted almost immediately. As a sidenote, this will be an episode you definitely want to catch. We’ll be covering a great deal of news from IPCPR 2013, with coverage on quite a few new releases and great cigars I had the chance to try while there.
Episode 024 should be posted in a much more timely fashion than Episode 023. You can join us live while we record if you’d like as well – Tuesday night July 23rd. Follow my Twitter feed @The_Cigarmy and I’ll post the exact timing. 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] 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! 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 on our YouTube Channel.
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!
I heard the mention of Rustica tobacco and just wanted to drop a note on Nica Rustica. When I first smoked the Nica Rustica, it was a cigar that was given to me as a part of the Drew Estate Cigar Safari. When the cigar was given to us, Steve Saka told us on a video that the cigar we were given has the Rustica strain of tobacco.
When I followed up with Drew Estate at the IPCPR Trade Show, I was already aware of some blend tweaks based on what we had smoked. It turns out the Rustica tobacco was actually not included in the final blend. According to John Brooke of Drew Estate, there was only a small amount anyway in that blend I had smoked.
I still think the Rustica strain is a part of the story – as that was a part of the genesis of the blend. However, as we were told, the Rustica tobacco is not in the blend.
I agree Coop. Not only is the N. rustica strain part of the story, but the name is still apropo because it is given as a tribute to the people of the area and their history with tobacco.