Montecristo Shouts “on guard” With Its New Puro Espada Series
Montecristo continues to launch innovative high quality cigars year after year. One of this year’s launches is the Espada (sword) series that is a Nicaraguan puro made in cooperation with Plasencia. For this series, Montecristo takes a page from the wine industry playbook by identifying the “vintage” and the growing region of the tobaccos used. So the Espada series has an Habano Jalapa...
Integrity at Table 36
It’s hard to keep in mind all of the different cigars that we hear about and smoke over the course of a busy life. While I was recently reminded that we had met the folks from Table 36 a couple of years ago, I recently smoked one of their new release cigars from the integrity line. When I first inspected the Integrity Robusto, it was very appealing. It had a nice oily feel. But, it...
The Baron of Kings Cigars
Kings Cigars began in 2010 but appears to have released their first cigars to much success at the 2013 IPCPR. They returned to IPCPR in 2014 to release additional blends and sizes. Kings has a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and Santiago, Dominican Republic. The theme behind the Company’s name is to provide a “taste of royalty” in the blends it creates. I met with Pete Tyndale, King’s...
The Bloodline Needs a Transfusion
Cigar store owners have a good perspective on what is popular, at least in their territory, and a few brave store owners invest in developing their own cigar brand. Micah Johnson owns Cigars Limited in Fresno and in 2013 he introduced his Bloodline O.P.A. series of cigars. Bloodline refers to 3 famous Cuban tobacco families from which Micah drew the seeds for his blend – hence the name...
The Conde of Kings Cigars
I missed Kings Cigars at their 2013 IPCPR launching but fortunately I found them at the 2014 show. Kings has a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and Santiago, Dominican Republic where the goal is to provide a “taste of royalty” in the blends it creates. I met with Pete Tyndale, King’s master blender, at the IPCPR and he convinced me that they are serious about making quality cigars. I...
Crossfire’s Platinum Gordo Is Still Firing
I first came across Crossfire Cigars at the 2013 IPCPR and I was happy to see them again in 2014. They remain a cigar importer headquartered in Louisville, KY that selects its own blends of filler, binder and wrapper and has everything about the cigars made in the Dominican Republic, right down to the bands and boxes. The intent is to improve the employment and quality of life in the Dominican...
