Tatuaje | Half Ashed

Half Ashed Episode 074: Tatuaje Tattoo Caballeros

July 16, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Good evening, folks. Welcome back for another exciting – albeit audio-challenged episode of Half Ashed. This week, we had some difficulty in getting Craig into the hangout, but we managed via his handy dandy iPhone (hence the peculiar sound). Our Cigar of the Week was the Tatuaje Tattoo Caballeros, so tune in to get our thoughts on this recently released budget-friendly Tatuaje. In the news, we covered items from Hirochi Robaina, Casa Fernandez, Toraño, RoMa Craft, and AJ Fernandez. Of course, we also discussed what we’ve been smoking and a couple of other minor items in the course of this abbreviated show (one hour vs. our normal two). So, you’re invited to fire up, kick back and enjoy!

Next week, we will be returning to our normal Friday night schedule. Our Cigar of the Week will be Unbanded #016, from Jacob Pinkas, 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.

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!

Leesburg Cigars receives exclusive Tatuaje Celebrando

June 4, 2014 By Kip Fisher

Leesburg Cigar and Pipe is in exclusive receipt of the Celebrando 25 Años

About an hour ago, Pete Johnson (Tatuaje Cigars) re-posted an Instagram photo and caption from Leesburg Cigar and Pipe. They are in receipt of a little-known shop exclusive produced for them by My Father Cigars via Tatuaje. According to the post, the blend is known as the Celebrando 25 Años, in celebration of Leesburg Cigar and Pipe’s 25th Anniversary. The Celebrando is a spinoff of the Cabaiguan blend, and is available in a singular Lonsdale vitola. Only a single run has been produced, and the cigars are currently available at a price of $8.75 per single or $175 per box of 20.

“To celebrate the 25 year anniversary of Leesburg Cigar & Pipe we present you the Celebrando 25 Años. Blended by the often imitated cigar man Pete Johnson at the factory responsible for the most sought after blends, including the 2012 No. 1 cigar of the year, My Father Cigars….The thinner shape concentrates the body and flavor while the shade grown wrapper perfectly balances out the blend. We liken it to an iron fist in a velvet glove.”

Half Ashed Episode 065: Tatuaje El Triunfador Lancero

May 13, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Good evening, folks. I apologize for the late post this week…I was distracted by (quite frankly) more important things like family time and making a living. This week on Half Ashed, we’re smoking the Tatuaje El Triunfador lancero, one of Craig’s favorite picks. We covered several late-breaking news items, including new cigars from Camacho and Alec Bradley, the Chattanooga Tweetup, Tatuaje, legislative updates, and Nicholas Melillo’s departure from Drew Estate. As always, we also discussed what we’ve been smoking and reviewed some listener emails. So, tune in and enjoy a couple hours of cigar shenanigans!

**Be sure and check out the new and evolving Half Ashed forum as well. We’d love to have you stop by and drop a line!**

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be Unbanded #015, from Jacob Pinkas, 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 063: Unbanded 014

April 26, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 063 of Half Ashed, featuring Unbanded #014 as our Cigar of The Week. This particular cigar was supplied by long time friend of the show Maria Elena González. Here is just a sampling of a few items covered in Episode 063:

News

Barry Stein commented on his future plans in returning to cigar media, and hinted at some future potential for the Kilo (hoowahh!).

Oliva has begun shipping the extensions to their Melanio Maduro line.

Kevin Paige of acigarsmoker.com is reporting that La Sirena is moving production from My Father & La Aurora to Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory.

The focus of our news conversation tonight was the FDA’s “Deeming document” concerning their intentions toward regulating premium cigars. At the heart of the matter is: 1. whether or not premium cigars will fall under the same classification as other tobacco products, and 2. the definition of a “premium” cigar. Tune in to get the full scoop. To summarize, for those who have any desire to continue smoking cigars, I’d strongly advise you to pay attention here. This is the “other shoe” we’ve been waiting to drop for several years. The time is now. You can find an excellent summation of the document at halfwheel, and submit your comment to the powers that be HERE for the next 75 days (through July 9th, 2014.

Other

In “What We’ve Been Smoking” this week, Craig gushed about what he considers one popular manufacturer’s Magnum Opus (and no, it’s not a Fuente). We covered a few more pedestrian smokes as well

There were a couple of embarrassing stories about myself thrown in for good measure this week….

We wrapped up with a fantastic listener email from Louis Alvarez. He made some excellent points we were happy to discuss on the show. Following that, we gave the final wrap on this week’s Unbanded….and I have to admit I was floored when I saw what it actually was. Thanks again to Maria Elena González for supplying it.

Next Episode

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be a very special Fuente stick given out at CFC2014. We know little about it, except it’s roughly the same vitola as a Hemingway Classic, and carries their “prototype” X band and a secondary “Destino al Siglo” band. 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 062: La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor

April 22, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Good day, folks. I apologize for the late post; I’m still on the road until tomorrow. If you caught the show live, you’ll know that I was broadcasting from my parents’ garage in Tennessee. I’ll be brief for the show summary, and just tell you that we smoked the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor “Magnifico.” It is a delicious 6″X52 offering from Ashton (produced by My Father). Listen in to the show to catch our thoughts on it. We had updates on previous stories concerning the Fuente Casa Cuba and Kelner cigar we smoked as the CoTW in Episode 061. In the news, we covered items from Viaje, Room101, Tatuaje, and Min Ron Nee’s upcoming 2nd Edition of “Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post Revolution Havana Cigars.” There were a couple of interesting tidbits in “what we’ve been smoking,” – notably, the Caucus houseblend from Georgetown Tobacco in Washington, DC. Finally, we covered a viewer question from the forum.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be an Unbanded (#014) from Maria Elena Gonzalez – and we are super stoked about it. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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 Half Ashed Half Ashed YouTube Channel.

Half Ashed Episode 061: Kelner

April 12, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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This week, we’re smoking a cigar that we’ve each had at different times in the past….and one that isn’t marketed (at least not here in the U.S.). It’s a cigar produced by Henke Kelner and son in the Dominican Republic. There is quite a bit of speculation as to how many/when these were produced, as well as their availability. In any event, I brought a few back from my most recent trip to Santiago. Tune in to see how they smoked!

I also wanted to take a moment, both during the show and in print as well, and welcome any and all of you to use our forum. If you listen to this week’s show, you’ll find out there is a giveaway coming up for regular posters. In the news, we had quite a few interesting stories this week – including Estelian earthquake news, items from CLE/Asylum, Fuente, Nat Sherman, Tarazona, Barry Stein, and Tatuaje. We wrapped up with a summary of other cigars we’ve enjoyed this past week, and a minor rant from me that apparently is not shared by the majority of folks out there :).

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor. As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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 Half Ashed Video Archive.

Half Ashed Episode 060: 2013 Oliva Serie V Maduro

April 8, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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It has come to an end….well, not the entire show; just our vertical tasting of all six as-yet released Oliva Serie V Maduro. This week, we’re smoking the 2013 edition, and wrapping up with a summary of our takes on all six releases. In the news, we kicked around a few topics, including stories from Cigar aficionado (a very interesting item on 2013 US cigar imports), a new blog entry from Frank Herrera, La Palina, Flor de Gonzalez, and Tatuaje. Legislatively, we had some good news from Florida. We covered what we’ve been smoking this week as always, and wrapped up with some final thoughts about all six Oliva Serie V Maduro releases that we’ve been smoking as our first formalized vertical tasting.

Next week, our Cigar of the Week will be a Kelner blend I brought back from my last trip to the Dominican Republic – which the both of us enjoy greatly. As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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 058: Unbanded #013

March 24, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Hello again and welcome to Episode 058 of Half Ashed. This week, we’re smoking an Unbanded – #013, supplied by Jacob Pinkas. We had quite a big of technical difficulties, but I have edited as much of those snafus out as possible. Please forgive that. In cigar news, we talked over items from Skip Martin, Eddie Ortega, Miami Cigar/Viva Republic, Blessed Leaf, Paul Stulac, and Tatuaje. We also kicked around one legislative story. We also covered what we’ve been smoking, and some listener comments. So kick back with a cigar and join us. Thanks for listening!

Next week, our Cigar of the Week has yet to be determined. As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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 057: Oliva Serie V Maduro 2012

March 19, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Welcome to Part 3 of our Oliva Serie V Maduro vertical tasting. Tonight, we’re smoking the 2012 edition of this fine series. Here’s a brief synopsis of the show…. In the news, we covered items from Quesada, Epicurean Cigars, Tarazona Cigars, GAR, Tatuaje, and an interesting legislative flop in Utah found in the Salt Lake Tribune. As usual, we talked about what we’ve been smoking this week and a few random rabbit trails. Join us for all the cigar talk and silliness we can muster!

Next week, we will be smoking something TBA…..we still haven’t traded cigars for this segment’s upcoming shows. We will be wrapping up this vertical tasting as soon as I get the 2013’s up to Craig :). As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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 050: Tatuaje Petite Tatuaje Reserva

January 26, 2014 By Kip Fisher

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Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode 050 of Half Ashed. This week, we’re smoking one of Craig’s favorite cigars, the Tatuaje Petite Tatuaje Reserva. Here is Craig’s summary of this cigar:

A small cigar that displays all the charisma & flavor of its larger brethren. In the spirit of the Tatuaje website I think it fitting to define this cigar as the above. Often overlooked because of its size, 4-½”x32 the Petit Tat Reserva is slightly expensive but not because of a lesser level of quality. Cherry, leather, espresso, chocolate & citrus explode from these little guys. This may be my favorite tatuaje because its so easy to cater to exactly what, or how long you are looking to be smoking. Only have 20 minutes? This will work. Have two hours? Smoke multiple. The Nicaraguan filler & binder are wrapped in the typical Connecticut broadleaf maduro that has made the Tat reservas so sought after.

As a matter of show housekeeping, I had a few announcements at the front end of the show:

Recently, listener Steve McHenry did the Cigarmy CRA promo. Since then, I have had 2 more people use my number, but haven’t told me who they are. If you do this, you have to tell me! Otherwise I won’t know where to send the cigars….I have 3 people that have used my name so far for 2014. I only do the promo until I reach 25….
There has begun to be some activity over on the Half Ashed Forum. Keep it up! We’d be glad to let you all hang out there and learn from/teach the rest of us as you see fit. Heck, anybody can post up a pic of what they’re smoking today at the very least…..and it has Tapatalk installed for those who want to visit on their phones.
Smoking Soldier…..you haven’t sent me your address. I still have this $50 CFCF Toast Across America Pack for you from our most recent giveaway.….

We had a few technical issues during this episode, with Craig dropping from the Hangout. Hopefully, that was a one-time problem and we won’t see it again. We also covered several news items, legislative updates, and hit a few rabbit trails that turned out to be some interesting discussion. Finally, we covered what we’ve been smoking this week – several for each of us from generous listeners (Thanks!).

Next week’s Cigar of The Week will be an Unbanded from William “Cigar Coop” Cooper. Will will also be joining us on the show to talk about it. As always, we’re constantly looking for suggestions about potential Cigars of the Week, and Unbanded cigars. So if you have one drop us a line at one of the email addresses below. Be sure to check back in next Friday night at 9:30pm EST at Cigar Federation (details on locating the show will be on the front page that evening an hour before showtime), 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.