The Herrera Esteli Norteño is the sophomore release by Drew Estate’s Willy Herrera, and the first since being named Master Blender. Willy’s original blend, the Herrera Esteli, is hands-down my favorite all-time smoke, so I was very eager to see how the latest offering stacked up.



CIGAR STATS: The Norteño (which refers to people in the northern…

Way back before I was a mod here, I won a box of the first edition of Zulu Zulu from a Robby Ras Christmas contest. And I was extremely pleased to find out that I really enjoyed that cigar. So, I was very excited to get to try the new Zulu Zulu Mas Paz Edition. Hopefully, it stands up to the bar set from year one. 

George Rico STK Miami Zulu Zulu Mas Paz Edition - White by Gran Habano Cigars…

Definitely, the neatest looking tobacco I've had so far. I am just hoping Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Bullseye Flake can hold up once in my pipe. So, I guess I'll break up some discs and see what happens. I should note that this blend replaced "Luxury Curly Cut" in 2006, and has become their best seller in the US.…

The 2015 IPCPR in New Orleans was great and gave us a chance to interview one of my favorite people in the industry, Fred Rewey of Nomad. After a couple years of great cigar releases, Nomad has released a new line of cigars called the Therapy.

If you haven’t checked out our booth write-up and video interview yet, you definitely should.

You can check out interview…

When I heard Colin Ganley from Twin Engine Coffee was going to have a booth at the IPCPR 2015 in New Orleans I was ecstatic. Colin’s company does a variety of Nicaraguan coffee blends including two lines specifically selected for pairing with cigars.

As I’m a huge fan of coffee, coffee roasting,…

Nicholas Melillo launched Foundation Cigar Co. at IPCPR 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The first cigar released by Foundation Cigar Co. is called El Güegüense which translates to "The Wise Man."  You can read the press release for some additional info.

El Güegüense will be available in five sizes:

• Corona Gorda - 5 5/8 x…

I wouldn’t be surprised if you had not heard of Hammer & Sickle. I was first made aware of them in a generous donation to the Reddit /r/cigars community ‘world war’ event last year. They also received high praises for custom laser etching at their booth at the 2014 IPCPR in Las Vegas.

What got…

July 13, 2015 (Berkeley Heights, NJ) – Bill Agathis, owner of Berkeley Humidor and Adelphia Lounge starts his own cigar company, Adelphia Cigar Company, and announces the release of its debut cigar eponymously named, Adelphia.

Adelphia will be made at Erik Espinosa’s La Zona Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The cigars will be presented in classic boxes of 20, 20ct.…

If you haven’t watched Sharing Our Pairings on DRAM Cigars Cask 1, 2 or 3 I definitely recommend checking them out.

• DRAM Cask No. 1
• DRAM Cask No. 2
• DRAM Cask No.…

If you haven’t heard the name Hamlet Paredes there’s a very good chance you’ve never been to Cuba. A well known and regarded Torcedor in the Cuban cigar market, Hamlet left and came to the US with his family in November.

He started by working at the Rocky Patel Burn lounge in Florida. Now he has a new cigar line coming out in September called…

Fred Rewey, creator of Nomad Cigars, sits down with Rob to discuss his new form of therapy. Which, just happens to come in the form of a tasty little cigar.

So, the new Therapy line consists of three different levels of strength therapy. There is a mild strength Connecticut, a medium strength Habano and a…

Crux Cigars has been exploding on the screen since they debuted in 2014. They have released quite a few cigars since that initial brand launch too. Many of which are now some of my favorite cigars, and I know some of yours as well. Check out the video as Rob discusses the new blends and plans from Crux.

The Du Connoisseur will come…

Let me start by saying that the D'Crossier Selection 512 Lancero was one of the best cigars that I smoked at IPCPR 2015 in New Orleans.  It offered up an elegant profile with some great cedar notes.  I'll have to revisit it on a fresh palate, but you get the idea.

Santana took some time to sit down and talk about everything…

Quesada Cigars launched the Quesada Oktoberfest 2015 at this year's IPCPR show along with two Limited Editions under the same name.

The Quesada Oktoberfest first hit the market back in 2011 and it has seen some changes in that five-year run.  The first change came about in 2014 with a new band and in 2015 a secondary band was added…

Rob joins Joey Bravo in the J. Fuego booth to talk about what's is going on for them during this show. 

J. Fuego has done some reworking on the packaging of their core line. These nice little "in-between" sized cigars, come in handy 5pk bundles, including: the Americana, the Sangre de Toro, the Connoisseur and the Gran Reserva. They…

Enrique is always a great guy to interview. No matter what he is talking about, his accent makes it sound great. His brand 1502 Cigars does very well and I know there are a lot of 1502 fans around here as well. Check out this video and see what Enrique has in store for us.

The 1502 Nicaragua is getting a new line extension. It is…

Crowned Heads has been one of the hottest names in the cigar industry over the last few years.  That fact alone makes La Imperiosa one of the most eagerly anticipated new releases of IPCPR 2015.

I sat down with Jon Huber to talk about the new La Imperiosa...…

Steve Saka is back with his new company called Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and his first release is called Sobremesa.  During the interview Steve breaks down every leaf in the blend and basically explains why he chose each one.  …

I was able to catch up with Gabriel Alvarez from Maya Selva during IPCPR 2015.

Maya Selva is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. While they have only been in the US market for three years, they have been in the European market for 20 years.…