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Half Ashed Episode 038: Quai D’Orsay Imperiales

October 26, 2013 By Kip Fisher

Hello again, folks. Welcome to another week of Half Ashed. This week, we were forced to record on Wednesday rather than Friday by some scheduling conflicts. Thanks to the folks who did join us in the chatroom….and if you’ve never joined us on Friday nights, you should! Tune in here at halfashed.com around 9:30pm EST for the show streaming as we record every week. Episode 038 features the Quai D’Orsay Imperiales, one of Craig’s submissions to our stockpile of Cigars of the Week. Here’s what he has to say about it:

Perhaps the mildest Post Revolution Cuban cigar. This Julieta 2 (i.e. Churchill) is unique in its proliferation of “SOFT” flavors. They are predominantly syrupy and herbal with a toasty core. The toasty flavor comes across to me as a sweet wheat cereal like Life. To me, this defines the “change of pace” cigar and can even make you want to switch over to this “pace” more permanently. It is the perfect analogy for a relaxed week away from the office. Medium flavored, mild and slightly more body than light, these cigars are the proverbial “middle child”; they are low key, wonderfully kind and always standing in someone elses spotlight. In my opinion, it isn’t fair :)

In news, we cover stories from the New York judicial system, EP Carrillo, Drew Estate Charities, IPCPR, and revisit the Alec Bradley Royal Monkey Society. We also discuss a few cigars we’ve been smoking since the last show, and have a couple of trivia questions from Craig. Lastly, we wrapped up by covering a listener email from Maria Elena Gonzalez (thanks Maria!).

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be a special Unbanded from Dan Crouch….and we’ll be joined again by Bob & Dale from Dogwatch! We love having those guys sit in on the show. It’s guaranteed to be a fun time, so be sure to check back in for that next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at www.halfashed.com, 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.

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 037: Drew Estate Nica Rustica

October 20, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Half Ashed fun. Through an odd series of events, we only selected this episode’s Cigar of the Week (the Drew Estate Nica Rustica “El Brujito”) moments before showtime – a bit out of the ordinary for us, as these are usually planned weeks or even months in advance. Tune in to get our thoughts on this new offering from Drew Estate. In news this week, we cover stories from AJ Fernandez, House of Emilio, Oliva/Tampa Humidor, Joya de Nicaragua, and Torano. We also follow a few tobacco-related rabbit trails, and discussed what’s been on our minds this week, including an article I wrote over on The Cigarmy about how we perceive expertise, and what we’ve been smoking. Finally, we go over a couple of listener emails and pairing recommendations we received recently.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the Quay D’Orsay Imperiales, one of Craig’s favorites. Be sure to check back in for that next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at www.halfashed.com, 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 036: Unbanded 010

October 13, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Half Ashed Episode 036: Unbanded 010

Good afternoon, and welcome back for another episode of Half Ashed. This week, for episode 036, we’re smoking an unbanded submission from Steve Dorau (Thanks, Steve!). In news, we cover stories from Drew Estate, upcoming cigar festivities for anyone in the central Florida area, the education I recently received in Chicago tobacco taxes (yikes!), Sotolongo Cigars, Miami Cigar, Emilio and Emilio-distributed Nomad Cigars, as well as the upcoming availability of a budget pipe tobacco.

We also cover what we’ve been smoking (a few goodies for me, and one that just wasn’t in Craig’s sweetspot), cigar etiquette, and an update on my attempts at putting together a new website. Additionally, we did get to a couple of emails and notes we’ve gotten from folks that have been quite generous and kind toward the show. Thanks to all for that, we really appreciate the encouragement.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be a surprise, at this point even to us. Be sure to check back in for that next Friday at 9:30pm EST at www.halfashed.com. 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 035: Fuente Unnamed Reserve

October 6, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Half Ashed Episode 035: Fuente Unnamed Reserve

Welcome to another fun-filled episode of Half Ashed! This week, we’re taking a look at an unexpected (at the time) release from the Fuente family – the Unnamed Reserve. When this cigar showed up on select retailers’s shelves in December of 2012, little was known about it other than the facts that it was somewhat limited in scope and contained some mixture of the Don Carlos blend with a Sungrown wrapper. Join us as we enjoy a couple of the last few remaining in my humidor.

We also cover several news items, including the announcement of Tatuaje’s “Unlucky 13” retailers for 2013 (see article and poll over on The Cigarmy), a really cool Miami Cigar promotion going on tomorrow (October 7th), a scheduled timeframe for this year’s Serie V Maduro release from Oliva, and George Rodriguez’s take on bringing the consumer into the loop in blend development.

Additionally, Craig and I discuss what we’ve been smoking, a couple of associated cigar interest topics, and a few of this week’s outstanding listener emails. Join us for all the Friday night fun….

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be Unbanded #008, provided by Steve Dorau. Be sure to check back in for that next Friday at 9:00pm EST at www.halfashed.com. 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 034: Ramon Allones Gigante

September 28, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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On this week’s Half Ashed, we took the opportunity to smoke a cigar from one of Craig’s favorite manufacturers – a 2001 Ramon Allones Gigante. We have covered this marque before, when we smoked the petit corona back on Episode 022 and the 2005 Edicion Regional on Episode 005 (pictured at left, because I failed to snap a picture of this week’s cigar). Craig presented tonight’s cigar thusly:

This cigar has waited to be smoked for 12 years since it left its original place of manufacture in Havana. That amount of time typically suits the Ramon Allones blend nicely by tempering some of the initial nicotine strength to the point that the traditional nutty, sweet coffee flavors can emerge. This is still a strong cigar; perhaps the strongest of all Cuban Double Coronas, but is never out of balance. The punchy youth just morphs into a robust maturity. Of all the larger ring gauge cigars this one tends to be the most complex.

Tune in to the show for updates throughout the smoke to see how that went. We also covered several items of news this week, including the following:

As reported by halfwheel, Iconic Leaf is suing Kurt Kendall (7-20-4) over the trademarked use of a spider on cigar packaging….

A recent ruling in Nebraska opens the door to ban smoking….in cigar lounges.

Guayacan is expanding their lineup, in an extension to the existing line and a new maduro offering.

The GAR Deli is open! Total cost is $250 – per GAR, “This includes all of your samples, the workshop, and your box of cigars. George will sit down with you and give you a fascinating informational seminar to guide you through the process of constructing a well-balanced cigar. He will discuss the tobacco growing process and give the customer useful background information on how this process influences the flavor of a cigar. Once you have made your tobacco selections, it takes the rollers a few hours to put your custom blend together. You can usually take them with you the same day or you can return the following day to pick them up. Your box can also be shipped to you.”

GAR also just announced the addition of the GAR Red to the lineup. Reportedly a medium-full bodied stick that is available in 3 size – 6×60, 6×66, and 7×70. Nicaraguan puro w/Habano wrapper, Jalapa binder, & Habano/corojo filler. Price is a major selling point on these, with the 7×70 coming in at a $5 MSRP.

Barry Stein reports that he’s trying samples of a 6X60 KILO…..and tells me that there will be a corona! Hoowahh!

Gary Griffith is implementing a new idea with retailers – the opportunity to become House of Emilio “Master Retailers.” I posted this press release in an earlier post at The Cigarmy.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of NJ has signed on as a co-sponsor of S.772. This is a big deal – Every Senator sponsorship is quite important and carries a lot of weight.

Also in this episode, we review what we’ve been smoking lately and a number of various and sundry ratholes….as well as a listener email from Enzo Temko.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week might be the Fuente Unnamed Reserve from this past December….I say “might” because we changed plans up in the final minutes of the show, and there is an outside chance it may change again. In any event, be sure to check back in for that next Friday at 9:30pm EST at www.halfashed.com. 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 033: Unbanded 009

September 22, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Episode 033: Unbanded 009

Welcome to Episode 033 of Half Ashed, everyone. This week, we’re smoking Unbanded 009, provided by Jacob Pinkas (thank you Jacob!). In news, we covered the departure of IPCPR CEO Bill SPann, a massive and unfortunate theft at the Alec Bradley warehouse, and upcoming/current releases from Jesus Fuego, Crowned Heads, Tatuaje, Barry Stein (Miami Cigar), and a Sons of Anarchy cigar….

There were several great (and a couple not so great) cigars from the “what have we been smoking” segment, and we kicked around some ideas that the both of us have been pondering and pontificating about recently as well.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the Ramon Allones Gigante – so be sure to check back in for that Friday at 9:30pm EST at www.halfashed.com. 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 032: A Visit with the Dogwatch Guys!

September 15, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Episode 032

Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to another week and another episode of Half Ashed, this being Episode 032. Yes, we’ve managed to make it another week without being booed, chased, or otherwise kicked off the internet. Craig was out of town this week, and I had the good fortune of getting Dale Roush & Bob McDuffee on as special guests. Bob & Dale – or the godfathers of cigar podcasting as I like to call them, were the hosts of Dogwatch Cigar Radio for 8 years, ending the show at the end of 2012 with 410 episodes. I owe much to them, including the impetus for Half Ashed, and truly appreciate them taking time out of their schedules to sit in with me to hang out and catch up. It’s always a special treat to visit with the guys, and this week’s show is no exception. Here’s a brief summary of some of the topics we covered…

Cigar of the Week

The Cigar of the Week was an impromptu unbanded stick I sent to the guys just to get their opinions about…not to ruin the surprise, you’ll have to tune in to find out what it was and what they thought of it.

News Items

The Cigar Federation charity raffle a total of $5,680! That’s an amazing turnout, especially for a first run at something of this nature. A big thanks to the guys over there who coordinated the raffle and put in all the work to make it happen.
It’s Padron’s 49th Birthday!
The Factory Fresh from Wynwood Cigars – we talked about the idea behind the Factory Fresh, and some of the pros/cons with such a project.
The Davidoff Nicaraguan…..good? meh? worthwhile? How does their first foray into a Nicaraguan cigar stand up to their typical Dominican offerings?
Some “Nanny news” from an NPR story Bob heard.
The “Royal Monkey Cigar Society.” You’ll have to tune in to get that story!

Other Items

What we’ve been smoking….the guys haven’t let up since ending Dogwatch. They’re still alive and kicking – and smoking plenty of cigars

Listener email – we take a question from Swede214 about tooth in a cigar wrapper….complete with visual aids :).

Wrap

Next week, we’ll return to a normal programming schedule. The Cigar of the Week will be an Unbanded, number 009, from Jacob Pinkas (Thanks Jacob!). 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

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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.

Half Ashed Episode 030: illusione ECCJ and a giveaway!

August 31, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone, and welcome back for Episode 030 of Half Ashed. This week, we’re smoking the illusione ECCJ, a cigar originally produced for the 15th anniversary of the European Cigar Cult Journal (now known as Cigar Journal). Tune in to get our thoughts on this how time has treated this phenomenal cigar. Our giveaway for this month is coming to a close – the prize this time around is a 10 pack of fantastic cigars. This is a selection of cigars that I enjoy and wanted to share with someone else. They are pictured below. With the exception of the new Cubao, these are from my personal humidor. The Cubao were some extra samples provided by Eddie Ortega – I think the soon-to-be-re-released line is an outstanding smoke and wanted to share a couple with a lucky listener. All you have to do to enter into this giveaway is send me or Craig an email ([email protected] or [email protected]) with a comment, question, complaint, or compliment about Half Ashed. That will get your name in the running when we randomly pull one from the pile next week (Sept. 6).

The current giveaway (Left to Right):

Tatuaje Wolfman (2012 Halloween)
Ortega Cubao (prerelease)
Ortega Cubao (prerelease)
Casa Fernandez Miami toro
Opus X
Sam Leccia Black robusto
Sam Leccia Black robusto
JC Newman Julius Caeser
Fuente Anejo 46
Fuente Between the Lines

In other news, we also discussed the current charity raffle going on over at Cigar Federation. Every $10 donated to the chosen organization gets you an entry into the raffle – which has about two dozen prizes, ranging from hats and T-shirt prize packs, boxes of cigars, and other swag – culminating in a grand prize of a 3-day trip to the Dominican Republic to visit cigar factories and other local attractions.

We also covered a couple of Gran Habano/GAR items, some sweeping changes to the executive team at Joya de Nicaragua, a partnership formed in the world of online cigar media, and some packaging issues in the recent Viaje DESII. Finally, we talked over what we’ve been smoking this week, had some pipesmoking chat, and reviewed a few emails that have been postponed the past couple of weeks.

Next week, we’ll be featuring the Casa Miranda Chapter Two when we have guest Barry Stein of Miami Cigar sitting in with us. Be sure to check back in then as Barry is a great guest, and has an upcoming cigar line in the works that you’ll want to hear about. 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 Half Ashed Video Archive.

Half Ashed Episode 029: Nadi Cigars

August 24, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome to another episode of Half Ashed. I’m glad you’ve joined us again this week as we host guests Jeff and Nada Jumper of Nadi Cigars. We’re spotlighting their line of cigars, Nadi, but you may be interested in knowing that the two of them have extensive involvement in the cigar community as a whole – making the rounds to a considerable number of cigar events, blogging, publishing YouTube cigar reviews, as well as managing the day to day aspects of owning a boutique cigar line (you can find Nadi Cigars on Twitter as well). We’ve smoked both their original Habano Classic line, as well as the Connecticut this week. Tune in to find our thoughts about them.

Also during the show, we take advantage of having our guests’ knowledge of the industry available to discuss current news and happenings around the world of premium cigars, a charity raffle going on over at Cigar Federation, and a couple of upcoming releases we’re anxious to get our hands on when they hit the shelves.

We all shared what we’ve been smoking this week – both impressive sticks, and those not-so-impressive. We once again had to postpone answering some listener emails, but will definitely cover those next week when we return to a normal schedule.

Next week, we’ll be featuring the illusione ECCJ as out Cigar of the Week, so be sure to check back in then to see what it has to offer. 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.

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!