Caught in the Crossfire – Platinum
Crossfire Cigars is a cigar importer headquartered in Louisville, KY that selects its own blends of filler, binder and wrapper and has the cigars made in the Dominican Republic. Scott Meneffe, the CEO, formed this boutique cigar company several years ago as a means of producing flavorful cigars while also stimulating the Dominican Republic economy and relieving poverty. Not just the cigars but...
The Monte by Montecristo
Monte by Montecristo At the 2013 IPCPR Altadis had a large and varied presence as it represents a number of well-known brands such as H Upman, Romeo y Julieta, Saint Luis Rey and Montecristo. However, Altadis is just a division of Imperial Tobacco, a $9.3 billion tobacco colossus based in the UK. Imperial is also the exclusive seller of luxury Cuban cigars worldwide (per their 2012 Annual...
Viva Republica’s Rapture Harasha
Rapture Harasha Jason Holly, a cigar enthusiast and store owner in Northeastern Pennsylvania, took the plunge from cigar retailing to also manufacturing cigars and launched his company, Viva Republica Inc. The first cigar offering from Viva is the Rapture series with sizes ranging from a 4.5 X 50 robusto to a 6 X 58 gordo. Viva uses an Ecuadorian Havana wrapper with a Dominican Corojo binder...
La Gloria Cubana Liga MG-08
Product innovation and quality develop new trends in the cigar industry, often after innovation in marketing and sales attracts our attention. La Gloria Cubana achieves this in their Trunk Release concept at the 2013 IPCPR. On the marketing front La Gloria employs 3 interesting approaches. First, they use innovative “trunk shaped boxes” as cigar boxes holding 26 sticks, an eye catching...
Lou Rod, A Great Rod
Without intending to do so, I hit a home run right after the recent IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas. It was a spectacular show with lots of great cigars and fun times with friends. Rather than thinking about which cigar form the show I would review first, it just happened. I have smoked a few different sticks and this was the first one where the photos were completed and all of the research...
Pedro Martin Ruby
Sometimes when I go to the humidor I am not interested in something interesting. I just want a good cigar. Perhaps I have been trying many new cigars for a while or I am just tired and want to relax without thinking about the smoke, but I don’t always want to be challenged by my cigar. With that in mind, I reached into the humidor and came out with a Pedro Martin Family Ruby stick....
