The Process of Choosing Cigars

Towards the middle of January, I got into a bit of a writing groove. The walls of writers block crumbled and a flood of post ideas and the urge to write struck me. After I wrote a variety of things for Stogie Review, I moved to write a handful of things for my personal blog. Once I was tapped out of ideas for both sites, I still possessed the urge to write. To quench that urge, I posted…

The Readers Respond: Is the Persona Really Necessary?

Back in late December of 2009, we posed a question from Patrick asking “Is the Persona Really Necessary?” Before hitting publish, Brian, Jerry, and I were a little concerned that the article would draw out hostility towards peoples least favorite manufacturer due to their marketing tactics.

I must say, we were pleasantly surprised by the conversational tone that took place in the comments section and were thoroughly impressed by the opinions expressed by many of the commenters. Since the responses…

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…

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…

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,…

An Argument in Favor of Cigar Reviews

You can’t review cigars for any amount of time without encountering at least one cigar enthusiast who not only doesn’t read cigar reviews, but actively objects to anyone’s efforts to rate, evaluate or describe the experiences of smoking a particular cigar. I’m not talking about people who don’t trust reviews to be objective or accurate, or people who just don’t find them interesting. I’m talking about people who think it’s a contemptible fool’s errand to go any further than “I…

Ask The Readers: Why Do You Smoke Cigars?

Photo Credit: Bryan Glynn of BG Pictures and Cigar Obsession

Dear Stogie Review,
I write this to inform you that you seem to be making a grave mistake when it comes to cigars. It is not often I spent time here, but every time I do, I find myself disgusted. The idea that you smoke your cigars for mere enjoyment is absurd!

By your camaraderie and good natured fun, you are killing the seed

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If Old Saint Nick was a Cigar Smoker

A few days back, we announced the winner of our Day 2 Contest for the Second Annual Stogie Review 12 Days of Christmas. In that announcement, I made mention that we planned to share with you the other entries that we received. This post is going to do just that.

Dave (dk_fxn):

On Christmas Eve, Santa flies on his sleigh from house to house to house. Many houses are close together and Santa is in a constant stop

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Ask The Readers: Is the Persona Really Necessary?

Recently we received an email from a Stogie Review reader by the name Patrick. He wanted to get our opinion on a topic that I thought was rather interesting. So interesting, I thought that simply answering the email would be missing out on an opportunity to start up a interesting discussion with the rest of our readers.

Patrick Wrote:

With all of these new cigar makers making it big lately and the pressure to secure a customer base being as

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What Happens at Cigar Events?

Jim Cronin and the Guys from Top Shelf Cigar Company with Jose Blanco for a La Aurora Event

From time to time we get an email from a curious reader looking for information on an event happening at his or her local cigar shop. Often times these people have never attended an event and they simply want to get a general idea of what they can expect when they arrive.

The purpose of todays little article is…