Ramon Allones | Half Ashed

Half Ashed Episode 034: Ramon Allones Gigante

September 28, 2013 By Kip Fisher

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.

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 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 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.