A “Square” Habano by Kings Cigars
Kings Cigars is a recent entrant for boutique cigar making and they name each of their blend series after a title of royalty. This reflects their goal of providing a “taste of royalty” in each blend. Kings has a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and Santiago, Dominican Republic where they perfect their cigars. I met with Pete Tyndale, King’s master blender, at the 2014 IPCPR where he discussed...
Crossfire’s Platinum Magnum Still Has Force
Crossfire Cigars is a boutique cigar importer headquartered in Louisville, KY designed to produce flavorful cigars while also directing Crossfire’s economic benefits to the Dominican Republic economy and other third world countries. Note the Cross in the Platinum’s band logo. Crossfire uses the well-known William Ventura cigar company for the Dominican Republic activities and not just the...
Little Costa Rica Makes a Big Minnesota Fats Puro Cigar
We know Costa Rica as a beautiful country that is nice to visit and a number of Americans retire there each year for the favorable weather and economic conditions. While small in population (4.6 million) and economic size, Costa Rica has a thriving tobacco industry. In 2010 Don’Juan Gross arranged with Tobaccos De La Cordillera to use their tobaccos, grown organically and without pesticides,...
A Gurkha Rogue Tried To Bamboozle Me
Gurkha’s East India Trading Company has several established brands but I have smoked the Rogue brand before, whose label is a skull with crossed swords. This unsavory image is matched by the brand name as a rogue is a “dishonest man”. And the cigar I am reviewing is the Bamboozle – which means to fool or cheat. This upholds Gurkha’s reputation for catchy styling and marketing –...
90 Miles From an Infamous Island Country
The Gonzalez family, owners of Flor de Gonzalez Cigars, fled Cuba in 1980 and set up a cigar making operation in Florida. In the late 1990’s they moved the business to Nicaragua and then eventually they bought their own tobacco fields in Ecuador. Presently they have about 8 brands, including “90 Miles” – the distance from Key West Florida to Cuba. I met with Flor de Gonzalez at the 2013...
Gigante is the Correct Name for this Cigar.
The IPCPR is the most important annual event for tobacconists, an ideal time to launch a new product to industry representatives. Corporation Cigar Export (CCE) used the 2013 event to launch their new Dominican Puro, Don Julio Punta Espada (sword point). All of the tobacco used in this brand is grown in the Reyes family’s fields in the Cibao Valley of the Dominican Republic and they named the...
