Straight From Jamaica
Jamaica is not well known for exporting cigars. This wasn’t always the case. During WW II many cigar makers left Cuba for the British colony of Jamaica as the Brits would not expend currency outside of the “Empire”. Jamaican cigar production took off. At the end of the war the Cubans left Jamaica but the quality cigar making infrastructure remained. The US embargo of Cuba invigorated...
The Big “4 0”
I am a fan of larger cigars with the 6 X 60 my favorite size and mild to medium body my favorite strength. I have also tried and liked 7 X 70’s and after I get a neck brace I will try the new 8 X 80’s, perhaps at the 2014 IPCPR. At the 2013 IPCPR I spent time at the CLE booth eying their 6 X 60’s. CLE turns out to be the initials of Christian Luis Eiora, past ownerof the Camacho brands...
This Prize fighter is Worth a Bet
Gurkha has a number of well-known brands and often releases new products under other recently established trade names. In this instance, Gurkha used its East India Trading Company to launch its Prize Fighter brand of cigars. The Prize Fighter is targeted as a “budget” medium bodied cigar with a blend of Connecticut shade Ecuadorian wrapper, around an Ecuadorian/Indonesian binder and a 3-year...
A “Ruthless” Cigar
The Gurkha brand has been around a long time, often releasing new products under other recently established trade names. In this instance, Gurkha used its East India Trading Company to launch its Rogue brand. Rogues are marketed as medium bodied cigars with Ecuadorian Habano wrappers, an Ecuadorian binder and a filler blend of 3-year aged Ligero’s from Nicaragua, Honduras and Dominican...
Azan Delivers Value in Short Campana
Roberto Pelayo Duran has enjoyed a long career in the cigar industry, partly in production and partly with the distribution organization of Cubatabaco, the Cuban state tobacco company. This distribution organization, Habanos S.A. formed in 1994, controls the promotion, distribution, and export of Cuban cigars and other tobacco products worldwide for Cubatabaco. In 2000, the French/Spanish...
Table 36 Needs an Ashtray
Table 36 launched their first cigar, called Fellowship, in 2012 (see our review entitled “Now Serving Table 36”). It was successful enough for Table 36 to add another blend to the line, this time called Integrity. If the next blend is called Strength, then the fellows at Table 36 are modeling themselves after the FIST clan, and the last brand would be called Teamwork. Table 36 uses the...
