IPCPR | Half Ashed

Press Release: Sotolongo Cigars

August 29, 2013 By Kip Fisher

As we’ve mentioned here on The Cigarmy as well as during the Half Ashed cigar podcast, Grace Sotolongo – since leaving My Father Cigars – has partnered with Christian Eiroa to launch Sotolongo Cigars into the marketplace. Grace has garnered a great reputation within the industry for being a charming, personable young lady, with knowledge of the industry beyond her years. I’m really looking forward to seeing the fruits of her labor hit the market, and wish her well in this, the first line of cigars to carry the name. From Sotolongo Cigars:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Miami, FL (08/26/2013): Grace Sotolongo is proud to announce her first cigar, Hechicera, from her newly formed partnership with Christian Eiroa.

The meaning of Hechicera is a female sorceress, [Read more…]

News: Organizational Changes within Joya de Nicaragua

August 27, 2013 By Kip Fisher

News of some organizational changes and executive appointments emerged from Joya de Nicaragua today in the midst of celebrating its 45th anniversary. A series of executive changes were detailed in a letter from Chairman and CEO Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca earlier this afternoon. Dr. Cuenca will continue as Chairman and CEO of Joya de Nicaragua S.A.; additionally, the Board of Directors has elected Mr. Juan Ignacio Martínez as Executive President, [Read more…]

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!

Episode 027: Unbanded Cigar Number 007

August 10, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome back to Episode 027 of Half Ashed. This week, we’re smoking our cigars shaken; not stirred. We take a look at Unbanded 007, submitted by Dan Crouch (Thanks, DC!). In another of DC’s experiments with this segment, he submitted two vitolas from the same line – a corona and a robusto. We found marked differences between the two. Tune in to the show to get the grand reveal, and our thoughts on both cigars.

A big thanks is due and given to those folks who submitted recommendations and submissions for the Unbanded segment this week (as us how if you’d like to do the same). In this week’s cigar news, we talk a bit about this year’s annual release of the Alec Bradley Fine & Rare, Erez Cigars’ “Unsmokeable” cigar, Avo Uvezian’s car accident, the newest vitola released in the Cuenca 5 Anniversary series (hoowahh!), an upcoming release from Steve Ysidron’s Epicurean Cigars, and the announcement of CFC2014. Kip in particular is excited to be planning another trip to the beautiful Dominican Republic for this latest even. We also covered what we’ve been smoking, a couple of random thoughts from Kip – which will likely get him into some trouble, and went over the deep end of tobacco chemistry in our listener emails.

Episode 026: The ChiGringo

August 7, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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This week on Half Ashed, we take a look at the INfamous (that means more than famous, you know….) ChiGringo, blended by my illustrious cohost Craig Schneider himself. Here’s what Craig has to say about the ChiGringo:

In February of 2008 I traveled to Danli Honduras for what was meant to be only a leisurely getaway. After one week, a lot of rum and dozens of cigars I left with a customized blend from the GR Tobacos Unidas factory on order. These cigars are the final product shipped to me in May of that year. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Rosado Habano leaf grown in Jalapa and filler is Nicaraguan grown Jalapa corojo tobacco with other tobaccos from Columbia & Panama. The exact blend is gone but these seem to stand out in my mind.

After smoking the ChiGringo, I have to say that Craig has been far too critical of his efforts in the past. I actually enjoyed it, in fact….even with the sudden jolt of the most sneaky, insidious, profuse nicotine dose I’ve experienced in a while. I never saw it coming…one moment I was smoking along just minding my own business; the next, I was waking up from a nico-nap. It just….”happened.” No cold sweats, no dizziness; just the sudden realization that I’d been had. Nonetheless, I had a pleasant experience with both examples this week. Tune in to the show to get our collective remarks about the blend specifically.

We also cover a few news items, what we’ve been smoking, and almost got to the listener emails. We were cut about 10 minutes short by a pretty intense lightning storm at my house. We’ll cover those emails on this week’s episode – which, by the way, will be an official “LIVE” show this Friday night at 9pm EST. Tune in to that as normal via Cigar Federation, or the means below. If you make it to the live show, you can participate in the live chat with us and rest of the regular folks Friday night.

Episode 025: Casa Magna Domus Magnus Optimus

August 1, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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After a week or so hiatus courtesy of my web hosting provider, I believe the site is returning to normal. I have also posted the first in a series of articles covering some new (and not so new) folks at IPCPR2013 in Las Vegas. ~~You can find that via the menu across the top of the page, or here.~~

Casa Magna Domus Magnus

Since I am currently on the road and having to post this with my phone (more on that below), I’ll limit the written description of the most recent episode of Half Ashed. Our Cigar of the Week was the Casa Magna Domus Magnus Optimus. We covered a few more items from IPCPR 2013, as well as a number of recent industry news stories, what we’ve been smoking, and several listener emails. So, tune in to the show to get all that….and be sure to come back next week!

At the moment, I am in Chattanooga, for CHATWEETUP2013. Three days of cigars, cigar people, and just hanging out. If any of you happen to be here, come find me….I’ll spot you a good cigar! We will be attempting to record some sort of show during the Tweetup – if that doesn’t work out, it might be a little later.

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. 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.

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 024: IPCPR Wrap Up and Unbanded #006

July 24, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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After some traveling delays and such, we’re back this week with Episode 024 of Half Ashed. Thank you for tuning in to our ramblings once again. This week, we’re focused on a quick summary of my trip to last week’s IPCPR 2013 tradeshow, as well as an Unbanded – Number 006, provided by Jeff Curtis (thanks, Jeff!). We also cover just a bit of news and a couple of listener emails, so tune in and enjoy!

I changed horses mid-stream at the show, and took a bit of a different approach than I had anticipated, which we describe during the show – I opted to cover a number of booths that were not even on my radar beforehand. Some of these are first time exhibitors, some have previously attended but have not yet seen vast growth, and others might simply not have national distribution – all are companies to watch for sure, as I believe many will make a mark in the coming days. For this show, we discussed those listed below, but there will be a great deal of written content here on The Cigarmy over the next couple of weeks detailing quite a few more. I managed to visit 50+ exhibitors, and have some really cool stuff to share that’s on the horizon, as well as some favorite picks for upcoming cigars….

Companies we (very quickly) covered on this Episode:

Viva Republica
Casa Fernandez
Aging Room
Drew Estate
Oliva/Padilla
RomaCraft
J. Fuego
Exactus
House of Emilio
La Jugada
Arandoza
Cordoba y Morales
Flor de Gonzalez
Table 36
Jameson
Capadura
Hoja de Flores

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 later this week for Episode 025, when we will be taking a look at the Casa Magna Domus Magnus as our Cigar of the Week. 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! 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.

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 023: Ezra Zion Eminence

July 19, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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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!

Press Release: Gary Griffith & Bodega Cigars’ Distribution Agreement

July 19, 2013 By Kip Fisher

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
IPCPR – July 16, 2013 – Gino Domanico (aka @Cigar_G), Co-Founder and CEO of Bodega Premium Blends (BPB), and Gary Griffith, owner of House of Emilio, announced today they have entered into a distribution agreement.

House of Emilio has a long and successful history in promoting the “Best of the boutiques”. Through this partnership BPB is proud to share their vision of the authentic cigar experience.

BPB’s signature line – Reunión – is designed around fellowship – gathering, connectedness and friendship. It features two blends both from Nicaragua, a country that has emerged as the rising star of the cigar world. Reunión will be available in three vitolas.

The shared goal of both companies is to bring BPB’s product portfolio to market with a focus on innovation, social media, brand expansion and awareness.

“We couldn’t be happier partnering with Gary and his team. Gary believes in us and our project”, says Domanico.

BPB offers blends that embody the company’s passion and commitment to the “cigar experience”. Their philosophy is to capture how and when people enjoy cigars and reflect this essence in their blends.

“The BPB brand as well as Gino’s involvement is a key addition to the family of House of Emilio” stated Griffith.

Contact:

Emilio Cigars
 Gary Griffith: @EmilioCigar

Bodega Premium Blends: @Cigar_G

News: Herrera Cigars & Drew Estate Settle Trademark Dispute

July 8, 2013 By Kip Fisher

Herrera Cigars & Drew Estate Settle HERRERA Trademark Dispute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MIAMI, Florida (July 8, 2013) – Long time friends Frank Herrera of Herrera Cigars and Jonathan Drew of Drew Estate announced today that they have settled a dispute over the HERRERA trademark.

While the terms of the settlement are confidential, the agreement focuses on protecting the HERRERA brand under a license. Hispanic surnames are powerful indicators of quality in the premium cigar industry, and both parties have mutually agreed to protect the trademark HERRERA.

“This is a great example of how disputes can be resolved quickly and efficiently when cigar people get together, and find a mutually agreeable solution,” said Frank Herrera of Herrera Cigars. “I have worked for years in the cigar industry building my name and I believe that the agreement entered into today will serve that purpose and protect it for the future.” Frank Herrera added.

Jonathan Drew, Co-Founder of Drew Estate adds,

“I believe in the cigar community, the industry personalities, and the subculture that supports and sustains its very core. Frank Herrera is a dear friend of mine, whom I respect greatly. The difficult circumstance arose when we brought Willy Herrera on board with Drew Estate and both men obviously felt entitled to the Herrera name. It took us a little while to work out the details due to our busy schedules – but in the end we found a solution that allows both men to reach for the stars and achieve their deserved dreams. DE is now comfortable licensing the mark from Frank in this Co-existence agreement. At Drew Estate we have always promoted innovation and creativity within the cigar biz. Legal nonsense just gets in the way”.

Frank Herrera has specialized in cigar law matters for over 12 years, and over the past 5 years has offered cigars under the LA CARIDAD DEL COBRE brand and later under the FRANK HERRERA BIOGRAPHY brand.

Willy Herrera joined Drew Estate in 2011 and will continue to produce HERRERA ESTELI and future products at the Drew Estate factory in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Both Frank Herreraʼs HERRERA Cigars and Drew Estateʼs HERRERA ESTELI will be featured at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (“IPCPR”) Convention and International Trade Show in July.