18 Minutes with Pete Johnson

Its always fun and entertaining to sit down and talk with Pete. As always Pete has a lot of cool things up his sleeves this year and down the road. We talk about the new cigars he has for the show, monster series, out of costume series, saints, sinners and adopt a farm. Great stuff as always…and who doesn’t like red vine? LOL

Five More Questions

Thanks to everyone for their comment love on my first five questions. The e-mails started rolling in and so here are five more questions.

This time around the focus has to do with storage and humidification questions. Do machine made cigars need humidification? What the fuck did I do to my Cigar Oasis Ultra? Which hygrometer is right? Where do I place my humidification device? And my personal favorite; why can’t I use plain tap water?

Enjoy and keep sending…

Five Questions

Between traveling and getting over whatever I got in Las Vegas, I really haven’t had the time to do the needed work for a review. Instead I go old school and do YQMA solo.

I tackle such hard hitting questions like why do we bash that “lifestyle” publication and why don’t we explain how we do our reviews anywhere on the site. I also take time to answer questions about other new releases from CAO as well as why Stogie…

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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