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Half Ashed Episode 084: Bolivar Regentes

October 1, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Welcome to Episode 084 of Half Ashed, featuring one of Craigs faves as our Cigar of the Week. Of that cigar, Craig says:

My favorite small cigar. These earthy and mildly sweet stick packs a lot of fun into its 34×4-⅞”. Sadly, it has been discontinued for over a decade but the remaining box I have still exhibits some of the characteristics these had when young. At less than 10 years old these were the cigar equivilent of chocolate and mushrooms. That sounds to be an odd combination but it worked so well. So much so, in fact, that once I tried making a savory chocolate cake with sauteed mushrooms within. It didn’t work so well…
Today, these cigars are a shadow of what they once were and only provide an “enjoyable” 30 minutes. No longer the flavor bombs of yesterday, it is my hope that they will continue to evolve and perhaps reveal a subtle complexity of flavors in the future. If no longer bold, than perhaps one day they’ll shine for another reason. The tobacco quality was consistently excellent in over 6 boxes that I’ve personally gone through.

We have news stories from Oliva, Sam Leccia (that’s a biggie!), Hechicera, Casa Fernandez, and Cigar Dojo. We also take care of some housekeeping items, what we’ve been smoking and cover a listener email that we’ve put off for far too long….

Next week, we will be featuring “The Collective” from Cigar Federation as our Cigar of the Week. Be sure to check back in 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), find us on iTunes, or subscribe with any podcast app at our RSS Feed. Video, as always, will be available from 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!

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.

Half Ashed Episode 073: Trinidad Ingenios

July 8, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome back for another round of Half Ashed shenanigans, folks. This week, we featured the Trinidad Ingenios as our Cigar of the Week – one of Craig’s submissions. He described it thusly:

The commercially available Trinidad brand became available to the market in 1997 with the Fundadores and the Edicion Limitada trend began in 2000. For the first time in 2007 the two came together in this lonsdale. At 6-½”x42 it is a beautiful size to match the beautiful appearance of this unique stick. Trinidad, a decidedly sweet tasting brand, and the E.L. wrapper leaf, an almost agonizingly dark tasting priming of wrapper tobacco were combined into this stick in September of 2007. I’ve included this cigar because of what it SHOULD have been compared to what it actually is.

So join us for that, as well as news items from RoMa Craft, Crowned Heads, JC Newman, Ashton, and La Aurora. We additionally covered a couple of legislative items, and what we’ve been smoking.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the Tatuaje Tattoo Caballeros, so be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at 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.

Half Ashed Episode 068: Cohiba Maduro Secretos

May 30, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Our featured cigar for Episode 068 is the Cohiba Maduro Secretos, one of Craig’s selections. Despite being in the “slow season” for cigar news, we did have several items to cover this week, including tidbits from Jose Blanco (Señorial), Miami Cigar (Nestor Miranda Collection), some possiblities with La Sirena/Sotolongo Cigars, a humanitarian award for Carlito Fuente, some cool packaging from Viaje, a question about the whereabouts of Palio, and a couple of significant legislative updates. As always, we talked a bit about what each of us have been smoking this week as well.

This week, we also hit upon a couple of intentional ratholes with some cigar-related things that have been on our respective minds recently. In wrapping things up, we wish chatroom regular Ian good luck in his new endeavor – he’s created a cigar review site over at 406 Cigar (I had to look it up, too. 406 is the singular area code for the entire state of Montana). Congrats and good luck, Ian!

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the brand new Re+United from EP Carrillo and Michael Giannini, 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.

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.

Episode 022: Ramon Allones Petit Corona

July 6, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Ramon Allones Petit Corona

Welcome back for another fun-filled, exciting episode of Half Ashed. This week, we take a look at the 2002 Ramon Allones Petit Corona – one of Craig’s very favorite cigars. He says, “Since its discontinuation in 2002 the PC has remained a “special” cigar in my humidor. Its big brother the corona is viewed as one of the most saught after regular production cigars since the mid 90s. Both being made in small numbers, thus always maintaining the quality, both of these cigars are great. The PC is legendary.” Tune in to the show to get both our full thoughts on this episode’s examples.

Industry News:

Oliva is making a machine-made cigar, to be released in various markets during the coming months.
As first mentioned last week on Half Ashed when we hosted Terry Johnson of TL Johnson Cigars, the news is out that he is moving some of his operations to Miami – and is partnering with Luis Sanchez of La Tradicion Cubana for a joint venture cigar brand.
Dona Flor has announced a special Limited Edition IPCPR release, as well as the fact that the Alonso Menendez line is now available in the US.
Yet another 7”X70, this time from Drew Estate. They’re adding this to the MUWAT line, per Halfwheel.
Xikar has divested itself of its HC & Defiance Cigar brands….selling them to CI effective July 1. CI has agreed to current price protections to existing retailers through September 30th.
IPCPR starts a week from Saturday. We’ll be doing….something….during the show, depending on internet connections, travel times, etc.
Well wishes and quick healing to Charlie Rutherford of Boveda, who had a terrible motorcycle accident last week. I know the guys behind Boveda personally, and all are good people.
Finally, we held our giveaway for June’s prize packs of Michael Stewart’s home-blended, home-rolled cigars. Michael Thomas and Steve Dorau were selected by random.org, and will be receiving those prizes. Congrats, gentlemen!

Wrap:

We covered a good bit more during the show – various topics of interest this week, what we’ve been smoking, etc. Tune in to get the entire story on those items as well.

Be sure you all come back next week for Episode 023, when we will be attempting to put a show together while Kip is in Vegas for IPCPR. We will be featuring the upcoming Ezra Zion Eminence as our Cigar of the Week. That show will likely be recorded outside our normal Friday night timeframe due to travel/show scheduling. I will tweet/post the exact time and date once we finalize it. 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.

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!

Episode 009: 2002 El Rey del Mundo Tainos

April 6, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome back to another episode of Half Ashed, everyone! This week, we feature a 2002 El Rey del Mundo Taino as our CotW. Hopefully have most of our audio difficulties resolved and offer you a better-sounding show. You can find a brief summary of some items we cover in this week’s episode below, as well as instructions for finding the video and audio in the final paragraph. Sometime during the next couple of days, I will also post my Epilogue review into this summary as well (so check back by for that). Thanks for checking in, and be sure to send us a note if you have any comments, questions, concerns…or even complaints. We may not have a solution, but we’ll certainly have an opinion…

2002 El Rey del Mundo

This week’s featured cigar is the 2002 El Rey del Mundo Tainos, generously provided by Craig. Here are his brief preliminary notes and history with this cigar:

Craig: The king of the world, as its name translates, is the king of many serious smokers’ worlds. A unique blend giving flavors of tea, honey, cream, sweet tobacco….and heaven. It has been produced in Havana for well over 100 years. Typically mild in strength and perhaps medium in body (as a general, not definitive rule) these cigars are as full flavored as can be. Incredible complexity and very specific flavors generally render them somewhat polarizing, but those who love them, often keep them at the top of their list. The Tainos was discontinued in 2002, partly because of its contradictory appeal (mild but large) and potentially also because of its unique packaging. A slide lid cedar box packaged in a 13/12 format. Beauty in a 12×12 box.

Tune in to the show to both of our detailed opinions of the Tainos.

Industry News

Casa Fuente has, at least temporarily, had to disallow smoking in their patio area until some modifications can be made to pacify other retailers bothered with the aroma.
As published here on The Cigarmy earlier in the week, Sam Leccia has “officially” disclosed further information about his upcoming cigars, which will be produced in two different countries and contain some interesting blend components.
As was published exclusively through Halfwheel, Ezra Zion is releasing a limited edition this summer – the Tantrum.
Drew Estate is releasing an extension to the My Uzi Weighs a Ton line, showcasing a curing process not often used in cigars – the Kentucky Fire Cured.
La Flor Dominicana and Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium will be conducting a very interesting instore and online webinar, called “A Night in Santiago.”
An interesting piece of information via Cigar Coop concerning Christian Eiroa’s upcoming Asylum 13 Corojo line extension – notably the release of a 6″X80ring behemoth!
Operation Smokescreen? What is this?!?

What else have you been burning?

Craig: In preparation for the show I smoked through a number of RdMs that I have. The 1999 Gran Corona (5-5/8”x46), 1990 Demi Tasse (3-3/4”x30), 1997 Grandes de Espana (7-1/2”x38). All are unique to their vitola and highlight different aspects of the blend; The DT; milk in tea, GdE; Sweet tobacco & honey, GC; tobacco & tea
Kip: A special EP Carrillo Short Run – the Federal Cigar 92nd Anniversary edition; La Aurora Double Corona; Eddie Ortega “Island Jim”

Listener Email

We talk a good bit about an interesting email we got from Derek Matthews, referencing the impact cellophane may contribute to the process of tobacco aging.

Next week

Next week we feature the Tatuaje LE Mexican Experiment as the Cigar of the Week – one of Kip’s favorite cigars from 2012. Michael Stewart will not be able to sit in on the live show, but depending on scheduling we may have another very special guest with us to talk about his new cigars…stay tuned for that!

Again, thanks for tuning in everyone. Be sure to come back next week, when we’ll be taking a look at the Mexican Experiment. 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 below (right-click “Download” and save), or find us on iTunes. Video, as always, will be available on Cigar Federation’s website, as well as the Cigarmy YouTube Channel.

Episode 005: Ramon Allones 2005 Edicion Regional

March 10, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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We’re back with a new episode of Half Ashed this week, sent out live via the Cigar Federation. Our cigar of the week is the 2005 Ramon Allones Eminencia Edicion Regional (Switzerland). We cover a few news items, including the upcoming Tour de Panacea covering the Pennsylvania and Virginia wine/cigar trail, a new “15-minute break” Guillermo Leon from La Aurora, AVO’s 2013 Limited Edition, and a cigar I’m anxiously awaiting in the Room101 Namakubi Ecuador. We also discussed quite a few cigars we’ve been smoking this week, as well as some questions and recommendations from the listeners. Craig makes a new discovery in the world of local craft brews, and we announce the winner of our first giveaway for the Arturo Fuente 858 5-pack sampler! Next week, we will be taking a longer, more indepth look at the 2012 Oliva Serie V Maduro release, which we’ll feature as our Cigar of the Week and having our next giveaway for some Tatuaje swag and Tatuaje LE “Mexican Experiments”….check that out, and if you win that one you can enjoy a Mexican Experiment with us when it comes up as the CotW on April 12. As always, thanks for stopping by and drop us a line if you have any comments, suggestions, recommendations or complaints at: [email protected] or [email protected] Thanks!

You can download this week’s audio directly below (right-click “Download” and save), or find us on iTunes. Video, as always, will be available on our YouTube Channel.

Episode 002: Montecristo Especial No. 1

February 17, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Craig and Kip are back this week for Episode 2 of Half Ashed. This week, we take a look at some vintage 1998 Montecristo Especial No. 1 (Laguito#1) as the Cigar of the Week. News updates from La Palina, Sam Leccia, IPCPR, and an interesting bit of potential legislation in Tennessee. Plus, a tour of the recently renovated Arturo Fuente Tampa operations and a discussion of some neat “happy accidents” in what we’ve been smoking this week. Be sure to also check out this month’s giveaway, as well as the ongoing Cigarmy promotion for new and renewing members of the Cigar Rights of America. So, give us a listen and check out our thoughts on the Montecristo Especial and all these other topics!

Next week, the Cigar of the Week segment will feature the Cuenca 5 Anniversary, which I reviewed here in depth. So, be sure you tune in for that, as well. We will continue with the recorded shows weekly, and our next live show will be coming March 8th with full audience participation during the broadcast. You can find the video of this week’s episode over on our YouTube channel, or through the embed below. Audio is available for download both below and free of charge through the iTunes store, or simply point your mobile device apps to: http://halfashed.com/feed/podcast . As always, if you have any questions, comments, compliments…or even insults…you can get in touch with us by email at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Thanks for tuning in!