Accessories | Half Ashed

Half Ashed Episode 151: Unbanded 028

October 15, 2016 By Kip Fisher

[generic Unbanded image…not this week’s CotW]

Unbanded 028, from Kevin H.

Tonight, we’re smoking another Unbanded from the generous Kevin Hasselwander – thanks, Kevin! The following are Craig’s notes about it before lighting. Tune in for the grand reveal! A 6-½”x44 heavy in the hand, colorado colored cigar. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that it was a Cuban cigar by the texture & appearance of the (seemingly Habano) wrapper. It’s very firm and has a rustic triple cap. The appearance at the foot looks as if it’s a “book” style of bunching which, partnered with the density & weight, makes me somewhat anxious about how it draws. The unlit draw & aroma please, with the perfect resistance and a slight spicy sweetness in the sensation. We shall see how it progresses!

Cigar News

With all the FDA goings-on, there have been quite a number of concerns about cigar donations that go to American service-folk. A number of manufacturers have made it known that they have ceased their donations for fear of the practice being deemed against the sample restrictions outlined in the new regulations. It remains a gray area, but a couple of legislators have requested specific clarification from the FDA, and are introducing at least one bill that would specifically allow the continuation. It’s certainly NOT against the regs for individuals to donate cigars…but it could be construed as such for retailers and manufacturers. We shall see in the days ahead….

We don’t talk a great deal about Las Cumbres lately, Jose Blanco’s parent of the Señorial line. But, he is launching a few new lines/extensions – a Connecticut version of the Señorial, a maduro Freyha, and the Freyha 12. The first will feature an Ecuadoran CT wrapper over Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and Criollo 98/Piloto Cubano fillers. The maduro Freyha, named the Freyha Nocturnal, will feature a CT broadleaf wrapper over San Andres binder and similar fillers to the Señorial CT. Finally, the Freyha 12 celebrates her 12 years in the industry with a singular 7” x 52 churchill that carries an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper over Dominican corojo, criollo 98 and Piloto Cubano filler.

The popular Two Guys’ “Firecracker” has been announced for 2017. It will be coming from Fratello this time around. The 3.5” x 50 vitola will have the same blend as the Fratello core line (Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Ecuadoran Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan/Peruvian filler. MSRP is reported to be around $6. This year’s edition was made by RomaCraft, in the CroMagnon series.
Check near the end of the show for Craig’s review of the recently released ScrewPop Ashtray!

What Else We’ve Been Smoking

Craig
- 03 Cohiba Siglo VI
- Casa Trompeta Bahia!

Kip
- Fratello corona
- Quesada España corona
- Caminos

Half Ashed Episode 066: Unbanded 015

May 19, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome back, everyone. I’ll be brief this week with the summary, but definitely want to publicly thank Jacob Pinkas for another fantastic Unbanded submission – so, thank you Jacob! In the news, we discussed items from Lou Rodriguez, Aging Room/Boutique Brands, My Father, ScrewPop, and Sam Leccia. Our big news of the night was more changes within the Drew Estate organization. As always, we also covered what we’ve been smoking this week as well as listener emails.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the Flor de González 90 Miles Torpedo, 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!

ScrewPop to Release New Items

May 14, 2014 By Kip Fisher

ScrewPop announces the Cigar Punch 2.0 and Cutter

You may remember the original ScrewPop ™ a little over a year ago, which combined a simple cigar punch and bottle opener into a single keychain clippable tool. Well, they’ve been busily designing a couple of upcoming items to supplement this line.

The new Cigar Punch 2.0 has the following updates:

Thinner blade
Improved sharpness
Ejector-rod to remove the cigar carcass when screwing the tool back together

Put short – it’s absolutely a MUST have! The Cigar Punch 2.0 will be available in the coming months at popular retailers. More information can be found here.

Secondly, they will be offering another new tool in their product line in the next few months – Cigar Cutter.

The Cigar Cutter carriers on the great tradition of ‘clipable’ keychain tools and includes an integrated bottle opener for the beer connoisseur at heart.

It travels basically anywhere!

For those who may not visualize well from a text description…..

Press Release: Cigar Oasis Next Generation

January 10, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Next Generation Humidifiers from Cigar Oasis

New York, January 9th 2014 – Cigar Oasis is pleased to announce an update of its entire line of electronic humidifiers. The new units incorporate cutting edge technology and features that help today’s cigar smokers keep their cigars fresh without the hassle of constant monitoring. Cigar Oasis, the original [Read more…]

Cigar News and Episode 001 of Half Ashed

February 9, 2013 By Kip Fisher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Good day, folks. I’m glad you’ve stopped by. I have a few items of cigar news this week, with a good bit more coming in the next few days.

First up, as we discussed in last night’s show (see information at the bottom of this post), Toraño Family Cigar will begin distributing Palió accessories and the new “E” cigar line from BOTL, LLC as of February 15th. Here’s the press release from yesterday:

February 7th, 2013. Miami, Florida. – Toraño Family Cigar Company is proud to announce that they have been officially appointed by Brother of the Leaf, LLC as their sole distributor in the USA as of February 15th, 2013. Toraño will distribute Palió cutters, lighters and BOTL, LLC’s brand new cigar line “E”.

The agreement marks the first time that the Toraño Family will have accessories to offer along with their own cigar line. Toraño Family Cigar’s president, Charlie Toraño, along with Brother of the Leaf president, Marc Aub, felt it was a perfect fit for both Companies. “Marc and I share the same business philosophy in that we both strive to offer an excellent product together with outstanding customer service. We are very excited to be able to add such a high quality range of cigar accessories to our product portfolio,” said Charlie.

Marc added, “The new relationship between our companies is going to allow us to focus on maintaining our current level of quality, as well as, develop new products.”

In the pursuit of precision and excellence, Palió cutters are entirely hand crafted in the USA and deliver the finest and most consistent cut for your cigars. More recently, Brother of the Leaf has developed and added a line of single torch Palió lighters and their new cigar line “E”. Palió’s superior design and construction has made it the premier choice in cigar preparation and lighting.

A leader in the cigar industry, Toraño Family Cigar Company is a four generation company currently based in Miami, FL. It enjoys a rich heritage and history in tobacco growing and manufacturing. For more information: www.Toraño.com. Please also follow Toraño on Facebook: Toraño A Family Cigar Company or on twitter: @TORAÑOFAMCIGARS.

Ezra Zion

Ezra Zion also released a newsworthy item this week, in that their Inception will be rebranded in the near future (the blend remains the same; only the name is being changed to protect the innocent…). As reported by Ezra Zion on the Cigar Federation:

Ezra Zion Cigar Company, recipients of multiple Cigar of the Year Awards for 2012, are re-branding their inaugural cigar release, INCEPTION. The name of the blend will be changed to JAMAIS VU.

Chris Kelly explains, “After being cleared for use by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we went into furious production on INCEPTION. Come to find out, the USPTO failed to inform us of another company that was using the same name and ended up awarding them the trademark rights.”

Kyle Hoover, co-owner added, “We knew we had a choice: we could engage in a lengthy, nasty legal dispute, or we could keep our focus on making great cigars. We chose the latter.”

“It’s the exact award-winning blend as INCEPTION, nothing has changed there, but along with the new branding we will be redesigning the packaging and adding 3 additional sizes as well.” The Don Fonseca noted. “I think our customers will be pleased!”

“We chose the name “JAMAIS VU” because it’s the opposite of Deja Vu, and the definition tells the story of the rebranding of INCEPTION. JAMAIS VU is defined as “…a sense of eeriness and the observer’s impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.”

Chris continued, “Those customers with INCEPTION boxes have a very limited edition piece of cigar history! We will begin production on the rebranded JAMAIS VU within the month.”

More information on Ezra Zion Cigar Co. can be found at EzraZion.com or @EzraZionCigars

ScrewPop Tool

I received a couple of these handy little items to try out last week, and have to admit that the ScrewPop Tool is handier than I had imagined. It is a combination bottle opener and cigar punch that compactly clips onto your keychain (or anywhere else you’d like to carry it). I am an extreme minimalist when it comes to my keychain – if I could key my house and vehicles alike, I would only carry one key – and the ScrewPop has found a place on it. It’s quite a useful little item to have at the ready, and apparently is TSA-friendly, as I carried it with me to the Dominican for CFC. Here’s the release information for it as well:

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT:
Brett Fischer
[email protected]

Screwpop Tool’s clippable cigar punch/bottle opener now available through Cigars International

The latest in its line of lightweight, compact and functional tools, Screwpop introduces a must-have for cigar lovers, the Screwpop – Cigar Punch, now for sale through the world’s largest cigar retailer, Cigars International (CI). This durable cigar punch is equipped with a sharp, stainless steel insert for neat-and-easy cutting, threaded screw cap and lightweight aluminum body. The punch can be clipped to belt loops, straps, key rings, in the eyelets of zippers —and just about everywhere else. And because a good brew goes hand in hand with a good smoke, the Screwpop Cigar Punch’s also doubles as a bottle opener.

Clip the Screwpop – Cigar Punch to a keyring, cord, bag or cable. It’s ideal for everyday use or on the “go” for things like golfing and the great outdoors. Unclip it as The Cigar Punch is rust resistant and is great on the patio table when grilling or for the smoking room too.

The Screwpop Cigar Punch retails for $7.95 and is available for purchase at Cigars International

For more information about the Screwpop Cigar Punch and Screwpop Tool’s complete line of products visit screwpoptool.com.

Half Ashed Inaugural Episode

After much hubbub, Craig Schneider and I broadcast our inaugural episode of Half Ashed last night on The Cigar Federation, with Bob McDuffee sitting in as a special guest. You can view it either in the “videos” section of Cigar Federation, through the embed below, or on the our YouTube channel. I am posting the audio from the show below, which can be downloaded directly by right-clicking on the “Download” link and saving – or to your mobile device by subscribing to the Half Ashed RSS feed at: www.thecigarmy.com/feed/podcast . Now that we have an episode in the can, I will initiate the process of admission into the iTunes store, where the podcast will be published free of charge for those of you who use that software [EDIT: we are in the iTunes store now!]. Tune in to this introductory episode to find the details on our current giveaway, which will be a set of 5 cigars – the Arturo Fuente 858, in each of the five available wrappers (Natural, Maduro, Claro, Sungrown, and the hard to locate Rosado from 2009), as well as a Cigarmy coffee mug and a ScrewPop Tool mentioned above. I hope you enjoy, and will continue to give us a listen as we work through the learning curve of putting this thing together. Also, stay tuned here for a full trip report from last week’s trip to the DR to visit Chateau de la Fuente, the CigarFamily Charitable Foundation, Fuente Factory #1, and other fun locations! Thanks for stopping by, and as always have a great week!