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Birth of a Rolling Table: Part 1

Sam Leccia - Nub Cigar - Rolling Table - 1In early March of this year I made plans to head out to a local cigar shop and have a cigar with a friend. After arriving at the shop and getting about half way into a cigar, we began to talk about the new line of Nub Cigars by Sam Leccia.

This friend of mine, Dave, is a close friend of Sam’s and coincidentally, happened to get a phone call from Sam as we were talking about him. I walked out of the room and looked around the shop while they talked. After a few minutes Dave returned and told me that Sam was looking for someone to make him a rolling table for the upcoming launch events and asked if I knew anyone who could quickly do the job.

After giving it some thought I told him that the only person I knew of was probably busy with the Philadelphia Furniture show around this time of year.

I told Dave that I might be able to help Sam out depending on what he was looking for. We walked into the Humidor to take a look at what the house roller was working from to get an idea of what the final product was to look like.

We threw around some ideas and I told Dave that I would get in touch with Sam with some design ideas and go from there.

We decided that the key features would include

  • Breaking down to be easily transported
  • Be small and light enough to ship if needed
  • Be rugged enough to get banged around at events

After a weekend of playing with designs I emailed Sam a set of prints and quickly got to work.

At this point the time frame was a bit tight as the first event was just over three weeks away. To save time I asked my father to give me a hand to speed things along. We decided to go with a laminated build up top (like many kitchen counter tops) and use detachable chrome plated legs to reduce the turn around time as much as possible.

The top was wrapped in Maple to create an apron which was used to hide the flanges for the legs and plywood edges. The support system was also made of maple and doweled into place so that it was easily disassembled. A fixed Maple tobacco scrap bin was added last to wrap up the basic design.

Once everything was assembled, a coat of oil based stain was applied and sealed with three coats of finish.

Once completed the Table was handed over to Dave, who volunteered to get it out to Sam. A few days later I gave Sam a call to see how the table was working out and was amazed by his reaction. He absolutely loved the table and thanked me for building him more than what he expected.

While having this discussion with Sam I began to get a little embarrassed. While the table may have been beautiful in his eyes I felt that it was done too quickly and did not portray the kind of work that I was accustomed to producing.

I felt that for a production piece it was just fine, but he made it sound like it was a piece of furniture. This conversation ultimately led to my father and I feeling like we needed to show Sam what a real piece of furniture was.

Stay tuned for Part 2

Sam Leccia - Nub Cigar - Rolling Table - 3





Cigar Misconceptions: Which one would you do away with?

This week I’d like to take a short poll of our Stogie Review readers on which cigar misconceptions you would do away with. If it were possible for you to rid the world of a single cigar related misconception, which would one would it be?
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Your Questions, My Answers (YQMA) Episode 33

Please note:
Due to numerous technical difficulties with the footage, this episode may be difficult to follow. We apologize for poor quality.

Welcome back for another Episode of Your Questions, My Answers Episode 33. Just like last time, I’ve broken the show down into three segments all with separate video for your watching convince.

Segment 1




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Saturday Supplemental: Gran Habano VL Churchill

This Saturday I decided it was time to revisit a cigar I had had some mixed results with at the end of last year. The day after giving The Gran Habano VL Gran Churchill a less than stellar review, I came down with a bit of a cold. And that bothered me. Was the cigar really mediocre, or was my palate skewed because I was coming down with a cold? I have enjoyed other Gran Habano cigars in the past, and this was supposed to be a special “Very Limited” edition.

What makes this all more interesting is that I had no idea Walt Jerry had reviewed the cigar over a year earlier! So not only am I revisiting one of my old reviews, I’m comparing notes with Walt Jerry. Enjoy.
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Pacific Cigar Company Robusto

Pacific Cigar Company Robusto - 1Brand: Pacific Cigar Co.
Vitola: Robusto
Length: 4.50
Ring Gauge: 52
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Origin: Dominican Republic
Price: $7.75 each

Brand:
The Pacific Cigar Company was established in 1990 and is based out of Lemont, Illinois. In addition to having a presence here in the United States, the Pacific Cigar Company also has a facility in the Philippines and Dominican Republic.

The company goal is to challenge and change the means and methods of making and packaging cigars for the purpose of creating a cigar like no other.
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Guest Review: El Duque Cognac

This weeks guest review comes courtesy of emjaysmash via our very own Fan Forums.

Size: Double Corona (7.75 x 50)
Wrapper: Sumatra
Binder: Unknown
Filler: Nicaraguan and Dominican.
Age: At least 2 months, 2 days.
Smoking time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

This cigar has been scaring me for some time now. After it was “gifted” to me by my friend’s father, it has stared menacingly out of my glass-top humidor, just waiting for me to put my guard down. After 2 months of agonizing fear, I finally gathered the courage to do something about it. But what could I do? How could I vanquish such a beast? Well, I figured if the mob of townspeople went after Frankenstein’s monster with torches, so could I.

Pre-light
This cigar has a mottled wrapper, ranging from medium to dark brown. Visible pectin glue smears can be plainly seen. 2 large veins run the length of the cigar. The smell of the wrapper is that of alcohol and feet. (Yes, feet. Not a Sweaty Feet smell, just a general feet smell. )

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AVO Tesoro Limited Edition 2008

I had originally planned to review another unusual looking cigar. I don’t know why, but I seem to be drawn to the odd looking smokes. As you probably remember, I reviewed the Felipe Gregorio Icon Einstein last week. And then there’s the Inmenso by Perdomo I reviewed back on Halloween. Who can forget my smoking adventures with multiple wrappers, the Gurkha Grand Master Dos Capas and the Indian Tabac Split Decision Quad Toro. (Actually, come to think of it, you’d be better off to forget those last two.) But then I remembered the AVO Tesoro Limited Edition 2008 I picked up a few weeks back. Jeez, a new cigar, and I was just sitting on it? That’s just nuts.

I guess that’s par for the course when it comes to the AVO Tesoro Limited Edition 2008. It was released back in late March to a great deal of fanfare in New York, but it seemed to be quickly eclipsed by all the other new cigars coming out. I remembered reading about them, and then being surprised to find them so quickly in one of my local shops. (Which, I might add, still doesn’t have Nubs or my much loved Arganese cigars.) Or maybe it’s just me. When I put up the decision to a scientific Twitter poll, the calls for the new AVO were overwhelming.
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Twitter Poll: Which cigar is here to stay?

In this edition of the Twitter Poll I asked which new cigar (from the past 6 months) is here to stay. Check out the responses and tell us what you think.

Twitter Logo

Twitter Poll: Cigar That Will Stay

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YQMA Episode 33 - Status

Last week Jerry, Brian, and I sat down and recorded Episode 33 of Your Questions, My Answers (YQMA). Due to some technical difficulties with the files they were not completely available until Sunday morning. With Mothers Day on Sunday I was unable to edit the footage at all and will be forced to post it late.

My apologies for the delay, I am hoping to edit the show in between my review this week, which will be the Pacific Cigar Company Robusto, and hope to have it up by Sunday at the latest.

-Walt

La Vieja Habana by Drew Estates

IMG_2113

Honestly, this is probably the worst video review I’ve ever done. Quality sucks because my camcorder isn’t working and the pocket camcorder doesn’t play well with my professional lights. Then the cigar I had planned on reviewing got all jacked up. Then I was confused whether I was smoking a newer or older version of the La Vieja Habana. Mass confusion probably best describes this video review.
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