A Threesome from Blue Mountain Cigars
One of the most sought after products from Jamaica is its Blue Mountain Coffee, world famous for its mild flavor and lack of bitterness. Besides making coffee, these beans are also used as the flavor base for Tia Maria coffee liquor. It is logical then that a Jamaican business man, Marvin Wright, uses the well-known Blue Mountain moniker for his cigars although the sticks are made in Esteli,...
Valentia Espada San Andres
Cigar making traditionally passed within families from generation to generation, often until the business is acquired by a large corporation. Less traditional entry comes from retailers or cigar lovers plunging into cigar making by having an established manufacturer produce a blend for the new operator to market. Valentia has an unusual pedigree – it was created by a weapons accessories...
Saga Enters the Golden Age with Its New Launch
Corporation Cigar Export (CCE) used the 2014 IPCPR to launch its new Saga series of blends. CCE is operated by the Reyes family where the current fifth and sixth generations maintain their tradition of making high quality cigars. The new blend I was offered to review is called the Golden Age – a Dominican puro designed to be a full bodied cigar “much like the ones they used to smoke in the...
Pancho Villa Cigar is Truly a Shot in the Dark
The annual IPCPR gathering gives very good exposure to new brands and product introductions. At the 2014 IPCPR in Las Vegas, USA Sales inc. had a booth and introduced several new cigars, one of which is a 6.5 X 52 torpedo called Pancho Villa. This cigar has Dominican filler and binder wrapped by Ecuadorian Connecticut tobacco. I was given the Pancho Villa to review. The Pancho was firm, average...
Valentia Fires a Torpedo!
Cigar making traditionally passed within families from generation to generation, often until the business is acquired by a large corporation. Less traditional entry comes from retailers or cigar lovers plunging into cigar making by having an established manufacturer produce a blend for the new operator to market. Valentia has an unusual pedigree – it was created by a weapons accessories...
The Ghost Envy – a Halloween Trick or Treat?
Gurkha’s Ghost series apparently first materialized in time for Halloween in 2012. For the 2014season, Gurkha is planning a big extension to the Ghost series – a 7 X 70 mysteriously called “Envy”. It has the same blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, a Dominican Criollo 1998 binder, and finally the same dark Brazilian Arapiraka Maduro wrapper as the rest of the Ghosts. The...
