It’s time again for another issue of Brian’s The Week In Smoke. This time, a special edition is in order to cover the cigars I smoke down in Nicaragua on Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari. But instead of revisiting cigars like the T52 (which I smoked every day I was there), I’m focusing mostly on the rarer, more interesting smokes of the trip. Oh yes, I should mention that these cigars were included as part of the trip, so …

While down in Nicragua for Cigar Safari at Drew Estates, Brian and I were handed a bag of cigars which contained some rare releases and prototype blends made by Drew Estate.  One of those cigars was the Drew Estate Liga Privada Unico Serie Velvet Rat.  Described as a larger, smoother Dirty Rat, the Velvet Rat is in the pre-production stages with a limited release at Tesa Cigars in Chicago, IL late last year.  As Brian and I lit up the …

As a fan of bourbon, one of the things that most intrigued me about my recent trip to Nicaragua on Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari tour was something so experimental, there aren’t even pictures of white-banded cigars with code names floating around the gossipnet yet. In recesses of the Drew Estate compound there are a couple Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels full of aging tobacco. There’s no telling if Drew Estate cigars with bourbon barrel-aged tobacco will show up in retail shops …

Welcome to a brand new, and long overdue edition of Herfin’ Heads. And this isn’t just any installment of Herfin’ Heads, this is a southern-fried cigar review. That’s right, Brian from Atlanta teams up with Ben from Mississippi to get to the bottom of the new H. Upmann Legacy Toro. Grab a cigar and your favorite jug of moonshine and click that play button already.

Cigar Stats:
Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler…

Nat Sherman is one of those stops a cigar smoker just has to make when they visit New York City. If you’ve been in Manhattan, the chances are good that you’ve paid 42nd Street Nat Sherman Townhouse a visit. But if you’ve never been, the name is probably still familiar, conjuring up vague sepia-toned images of early 20th century New York. Or maybe a set on the popular show, Mad Men. Either way, I had never been, and made a …

Curivari has been around since 2003 in Europe, but is a relative new-comer to the United States, making its first domestic appearance back in 2010. Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to try a few of their lines, and have had good experiences with them so far. This review focuses on Buenaventura, the company’s latest release, whose name means “good luck or good fortune”.

The Buenaventura was introduced at the 2012 IPCPR trade show and like the lines that …

Once again, a busy schedule has gotten in the way of a proper in depth review. And you know what that means: It’s time again for another issue of Brian’s The Week In Smoke. In case this is your first Week in Smoke, be advised that it covers many (though not necessarily all) of the cigars I’ve smoked in the past week (or the past month, or however long it has been since the last issue), along with a …

Today’s review is of a cigar that slipped quietly onto the market at the end of last year, created by a man who needs no fanfare to sell cigars, Dion Giolito. It’s named La Grande Classe (or “the great class”) and is a 470-box limited run blended by Dion exlcusively for his retail shop FUMARE in Reno, Nevada. Unlike the other cigars for which he is famous, La Grande Classe is not part of his popular Illusione line.

For a …

Once again, a busy schedule has gotten in the way of a proper in depth review. And you know what that means: It’s time again for another issue of Brian’s The Week In Smoke. In case this is your first Week in Smoke, be advised that it covers many (though not necessarily all) of the cigars I’ve smoked in the past week (or the past month, or however long it has been since the last issue), along with a …

Last year at the Tweetup in Chattanooga, I met Thomas Person, President of Commonweath Cedar Spills. His company specializes in the creation of cedar strips that can be used to light cigars. But they’re more than simple strips of wood. Each spill is tapered from a thicker handle to a smaller bulbous lighting end, and can be customized in a number of different ways. (The ones I’ve been using have a little flame logo at the lighting end, and the …