Colin Ganley | Half Ashed

Half Ashed Episode 110: Unbanded and guest Colin Ganley

April 21, 2015 By Kip Fisher

Unbanded #022, from SmokinSteve

This week, we’re smoking another Unbanded submission, this time from listener SmokinSteve. Steve was kind enough to send these in for us. Without giving away any spoilers (and this week was a doozy, wrecking our somewhat reliable record with unbanded cigars), Unbanded #022 was 6.75″ x 54, and featured a dark brown, toothy wrapper. Tune in to find out how poorly we did with this one. Also, we have special guest Colin Ganley on to chat some more about his Twin Engine Coffee and Cigar Tourism trips – specifically, about more scheduled trips to Cuba. I know many of you are interested in that. Tune in to get the full scoop on when the next trip will occur….

News

You may remember us reporting on a new Drew Estate production for Pappy van Winkle last November….well, it has finally begun to ship….but with modification. When we originally reported on this cigar, it was to feature an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers. NOW we know that the final iteration comes with “a barrel fermented “tapa negra” style wrapper over a Mexican San Andres base wrapper.” If I’m remembering correctly from how it was presented at the 2013 tradeshow, the “tapa negra” style is simply the addition of a different wrapper over the rearward portion of the cigar. Knowing that it also has “Kentucky seed, Kentucky grown tobacco that was fire cured and then barrel fermented,” I’d guess the fire-cured leaf is the applique. The process is a way to use wrapper leaf that may have desirable flavor impact, but undesired burn characteristics. Filler blend is Nicaraguan, and the cigars will be available only through Pappy & Co.. Two vitolas – Robusto (5.25”x52) and Toro (6”x54), which will retail for $13 and $15 respectively. Also, the line was now referred to in the press release as Pappy van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigars, rather than the Pappy van Winkle Family Reserve noted in the original information.

Gran Habano is expanding the Corojo #5 line…to include a 7×70 “Grandioso.” Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper & binder; Nica // Costa Rican fillers. $8.86 per stick.

The Chattanooga Tweetup has been scheduled for another year. It will be on August 6-8 this year, will reportedly feature a cornhole tournament!?! A full itinerary has yet to be published, but I understand this year’s $75 ticket also gets you a year of CRA membership.

Just as a service to the growing number of folks who are sending in pipe tobacco emails, smokingpipes.com [no affiliation] has a deal on Dunhill pipe tobacco tins until April 30th. Buy any 4+ 50g Dunhill tins and get 25% off!

Despite the past 3 years’ record, Viaje is reverting – at least partially – to a less-than-100% “small batch” production model. They have announced that the Exclusivo line will become regular production, available year-round. The line will feature 3 vitolas stateside (5×52 Robusto, 6×50 Toro, and 5.25×54 Double R), with one other being available in the German market. It is a Raices Cubanas Nicaraguan puro, featuring AGANORSA Criollo 98 wrapper. As a sidenote, there will be another Zombie release from Viaje this year as well. There were no further details on blend changes, etc. – but I did receive an email that one of only two accounts that will receive them will be our friend Kevin Edmiston at Winston’s Humidor in Midlothian, VA.

Cuba has been removed from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list. Obama made mention that he has contacted members of congress to support a bill to repeal the embargo. Just a friendly FYI as to the ongoing story of US/Cuba relations

What Else We’ve Been Smoking

Craig

Blind Man’s Puff – #294
H.Upmann Connie A – from Zedman
Pipes! – Margate from 2005 –
An unbanded from Kip himself!

Kip

Fratello corona 5.5×46 – Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and filler tobaccos from Peru and Nicaragua; fiery spicy beginning, which quickly drops off into a sweeter, more approachable profile. Even flashes of cinnamon in the final third. Delicious..

Southern Draw “Quick Draw” petit corona – PA broadleaf wrapper; unknown internals. Very toasty cigar, with baking spice and occasional cocoa as well. Tune in for Episode 112 when we have owner Robert Holt as our guest.

Drew Estate UF-13 – I think the torcedor was wearing mittens when he/she made this one….

Next Episode

Next episode (111) we will be featuring Crowned Heads JD Howard Reserve Single Action. So come by Half Ashed 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 Page or 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), 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 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 [email protected] if you have something you’d like to send in. I will provide an address to send them. Thanks!

Half Ashed Episode 106: Quesada España Ninfa

March 18, 2015 By Kip Fisher

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Quesada España Ninfa

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.

News

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.

What We’ve Been Smoking

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….

Wrap Up

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!

Half Ashed Episode 104: Tatuaje RC184

March 4, 2015 By Kip Fisher

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Tatuaje RC184

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.

News

(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.

What We’ve Been Smoking

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…

Wrap Up

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!

Half Ashed Episode 100: 2005 Opus X Double Corona

January 28, 2015 By Kip Fisher

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2005 Opus X Double Corona

Ten years ago, the Fuente Fuente Opus X Double Corona received high honors from Cigar Aficionado in receiving the 2005 “#1 Cigar of the Year” award. The 7 5/8” x 49 Dominican puro is just one vitola in what is one of the most widely-known and sought after regular production Dominican cigars. Tonight’s examples are the last of my stockpile from that year, and I wish I’d had the wherewithal to put more away at the time. It really was a good year. When young, these were full of café con leche and sharp leather, but as the years have gone by they’ve softened quite a bit and gotten more oatmeal-like in character, a profile I love in the Opus after a few years’ time. Strangely enough, this larger vitola comes across with far less strength than I normally attribute to the line, especially in comparison to some of its smaller brethren….which is probably why I like this bigger size despite my general tendencies toward smaller cigars.

Guest and News

We have special guest Colin Ganley in this episode, so rather than cover our typical news format we chatted with him about recent news in his world – which will likely be of interest to those of us who enjoy a good cigar and/or coffee to go with it. Formerly with Cigar Journal, Colin heads up cigartourism.com these days, as well as Twin Engine Coffee (a small batch Nicaraguan coffee whose philosophy is “that it can be enjoyed purely—free of defects, and showcase the differences in character brought by terroir, care for beans, and roasting. We work to develop roasts for each coffee that we produce to accentuate these characteristics“). We talked a good bit about Twin Engine, as I’m keenly interested in their product…as well as that which they are now producing for RoMaCraft Tobac, which is intended to be paired with the Intemperance line. However, the big news of the night is that Colin will be leading his first American group to Cuba under the new guidelines and his recently granted permit for doing so. The initial details can be found at the Cigar Tourism “Cuba” page – but full details, which will be available at experiencecubanculture.com are not yet available (although we did cover many of them during the show).

Wrap Up

Next week we will be featuring Unbanded #020 as our Cigar of the Week. 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] 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), 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 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 076: Monsdale

July 28, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome to Episode 076 of Half Ashed, featuring the Monsdale as our Cigar of the Week. I happen to be a complete neophyte with this cigar, but Craig described it beforehand thusly:

The LCDH at “Club Havana” in the Miramar region of Havana provides a house rolled cigar blended by Enrique Mons. His “monsdale” was his lonsdale vitola. A beautifully flavorful cigar when “on”, these samples are from 2006 and are over the hill in my opinion. We shall see this evening… I am primarily including them this evening because of their interplay of sweet & sour flavors that kip has commented on multiple times. They range from the sweetness of cream & sugar to the contrasting bitters of espresso, cocoa & tart fruit.

So, tune in to see our exact thoughts of it on the show. As for the news, we covered several IPCPR related items this week, including news from Colin Ganley’s Twin Engine coffee, Drew Estate (both pipes and cigar), and General. We also had a lengthy discussion about the state of the industry in terms of IPCPR’s position therein (which is likely to raise an eyebrow or two). As always, we covered what we’ve been smoking, and an email or two. We certainly appreciate you joining us, and hope you enjoy this week’s show!

Next week, we will be featuring the Casa Fernandez 35th Aniversario as our Cigar of the Week, so be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST on 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 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!