Cigar Shop Primer

Over the past year, online cigar sales have been booming. As a result, some local cigar shops are experiencing a downturn in sales. In addition to tough times at the cash register, the popularity of discount online retailers have kept many would-be customers from ever visiting a local shop in the first place.

Due to lack of experience, many people find themselves intimidated by the thought of heading out to their local cigar shop. The objective of this article is …

Illusione 888

Origin : Nicaraguan

Wrapper : Nicaraguan Cafe Colorado

Binder : Nicaraguan

Filler : Nicaraguan

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Pre Light

First off I want to say I was gifted this cigar by a great BOTL on twitter, Tony Casas. I also mentioned in the video how he runs his own site and that our very own Walt wrote a guest article for him about …

Perdomo Reserve Champagne (Short Ashes)

Shortly after getting into the hobby of cigars, I discovered a brand that I came to smoke fairly frequently. That brand was Perdomo. I don’t recall which vitola it was that first attracted me to the brand, but I do recall ordering several samplers from Cigars International, in part, due to Perdomo being in the lineup.

As my hobby progressed, the Lot 23 was introduced and I found myself picking it up from time to time at …

My Father Le Bijou 1922

If you’ve been following me on Twitter the past few weeks you already know where this review is going. The My Father Le Bijou 1922 was released at the 2009 IPCPR in New Orleans. I’ll admit, the sample I got from the show wasn’t that impressive…maybe my palate was fried, maybe they were rushed, maybe the air conditioned environment wasn’t up to par, maybe…well, you get where am I going right? There are just too many factors involved when smoking …

Berger & Argenti Exile Wired Corona

It seems like I’ve been waiting for years to try the Exile Wired. When I started doing my homework for this review, I could see why. I have. Maybe not years, plural, but the Wired had a lot of buzz around it back 2008, receiving high ratings when it was first introduced by the now defunct Cuban Imports cigar company.

Rumors about what happened to the Cuban Imports cigar company made for juicy discussion in the cigar shop lounge last …

Accessory Review: Travel Humidor (Otterbox and Xikar)

When it comes to the hobby of cigar smoking, we all tend to follow along the same path early on in our hobby. For me, I started off storing my cigars in a small desktop humidor that I purchased from ebay. Within a month or so, I outgrew that humidor and moved to creating a Tupperware container to house my overflow.

Somewhere between that first humidor and the Tupperware, but long before the Coolidor, I picked up a travel …

Ask The Readers: What do you use for humidification?

Over the past years I’ve been a big supporter and user of humidification beads. Whether its in the form of The Puck or contained within a pair of pantyhose. Recently, I’ve come into possession of Cigar Oasis Ultra to try and see how it performs in one of my humidors. I’ll admit that I was bit skeptical about removing my trusty beads and relying solely on the Cigar Oasis Ultra. After a bit of a learning curve (it wasn’t …

The 2009 Tarries Cigar Award Show

It’s the cigar award show you didn’t realize you were eagerly awaiting. The Tarries celebrates the unusual aspects of the cigar industry, shining an industrial-sized spotlight on dubious distinctions that may be either points of pride or the stuff of shame. But either way, nothing anyone wants to be known for!

And without further ado, may I have the envelopes please…

Best Smogar Of The Year
Winner: Nub Miami
The “Smogar” is the cigar world’s version of vaporware, or, software …

Rocky Patel Ocean Club

Origin : Honduras
Wrapper : Nicaraguan
Binder : Mexican
Filler : Nicaraguan and Dominican
Cost : $5.50 – $7.25 by box purchase

The Rocky Patel Ocean Club is an exclusive cigar to Holt’s Cigar Company. These cigars are available in four sizes, Robusto (50 x 5.00), Toro (52 x 6.00), Torpedo (52 x 6.50), and a Sixty (60 x 6.00).

Before going any further, I will point you to Jerry’s take on the Rocky Patel Ocean …

CAO La Traviata (Short Ashes)

Back in August, Brian, Jerry, and I were fortunate enough to attend the 2009 IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans. One of the samples we were able to pick up was the highly anticipated CAO La Traviata. Some time after the trade show, Brian and Jerry got together for a Herfin’ Heads video where they smoked the La Traviata and talked cigars.

That video, coupled with the samples I received from IPCPR, had me very eager to …