Happy Halloweekend Cigar Fans! As you prepare to cut, light, and thoroughly enjoy all of the spooky special releases you’ve gathered this month, a great way to get things started is The Haunting of J.C. Newman video series produced by the 127-year-old company. Each of the 8 videos in the series chronicles the real life strange experiences of some of the tens of thousands of people who have crossed the threshold of the 112-year-old El Reloj factory. Yesterday, J.C. Newman concluded a hyper-limited run of haunted tours of the facility leading up to the holiday weekend, but you can still invite that energy into your very own home…it’s not like any scary movies ever had anything to do with inviting energies into one’s home. Right? Something altogether less spooky, but just as fun, are the Great Cigar & Pipe Show hosts who will be streaming live from within J.C. Newman’s walls on Tuesday, November 4th.
Taking a moment away from shipping the Desvalido Disla to retailers, Dapper Cigars has pointed the spotlight where not every brand out there wants us to look. Cigar heads love the journeys of craftspeople like Raul Disla and are constantly hungry to know more about the products filling our humidors, tupperdors, and nearly every available surface many of us can manage to find. The brand shares that Disla “has worked with some of the industry’s most dynamic cigar men such as Steve Saka, Christian Eiora, and A.J. Fernandez for whom he’s assisted in crafting some of their brands. At Dapper Cigar Co, we could not be more proud of Raul’s work and thankful for his expertise in crafting the new Desvalido Disla cigar.” Disla’s Desvalido blend is essentially a cigar remade – which makes it difficult to hide our enthusiasm to try both the original and this new iteration to experience the variant approaches ourselves. Let everyone know if you’re eager to try both as well!
This cigar company has come up with one of those scenarios that only scares cigar lovers and their families. Continue reading only if you aren’t frightened by a good offer 🙂 Celebrating the famed artisan tiles of Mario Favilli, Favilli recently announced its newest brand of cigars, Ladrillos – which are now available to ship to the US! The 5″ x 52 box-press cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro wrapped in Nicaraguan Habano Oscurro. Mario’s family still makes tiles in the very same place that he started making them well over 100 years ago. The tiles he made himself still adorn the Favilli Mansion that is home to the cigar company. You can find out more about his story, and the cigars and art that it inspired, in the article published when the launch was announced. Through Sunday, if you buy 3 Ladrillos packs, Favilli will place a 4th pack in your order at no additional cost! Horrifying, isnt it? Thanks Favilli!
Quesada Cigars presents their 2022 Seasonal Quesada Holiday Keg as a limited-edition run of only 500 kegs! Manuel Quesada, President of Quesada Cigars, shares that “it’s been a while since last time we presented this fun project, a cigar meant for the holidays and the great spirit of the season. Featuring the same profile of smoke, changing the wrapper to Habano 2000 and new vintages in binder and fillers in the same size, a classic toro 6 x 50.” Raquel Quesada as: that “it’s always fun to create new blends, but as well as reviving old ones. The challenge of overlapping vintages, looking for the same profile and intensity, and remembering the smoke as the original. Everyone will love this edition, it’s a great cigar.” This cigar features a Habano 2000 Wrapper grown in Ecuador, Dominican binder, and filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The Quesada Holiday Keg will have 10 cigars and will launch with an MSRP of $119.00.
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo is widely regarded as the Grandfather of Boutique cigars – have you every wanted to ask him a question? Now, you’ve got an opportunity to ask three! Follow this link, submit your questions, and then keep an eye on the E.P. Carrillo Cigars socials to see if if one of your questions gets answered during their new AMA (Ask Me Anything) series! Today is also the last day of their INCH Nicaragua social media contest and giveaway. You could win an all expenses paid trip to Miami to spend the day with Ernesto and Lissette Carrillo trying special blends that have never been released from Ernesto’s personal collection!
As in year’s past, only two shops will be receiving this year’s limited-edition Liga Privada Unico Serie Pancetta. One of them is the Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Wooden Indian is also part of the Limited Cigar Association network of brick & mortar stores. David Mayer, owner of Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop, says that “this is the fourth year we have offered the rare and exclusive Pancetta in our store. Every year, they seem to sell out faster as more of our customers discover these smoky gems. We are truly grateful for all the support and love we receive from Drew Estate and its cigar smokers.” Pre-orders started earlier this week and the actual cigars should be arriving at both shops today! Wooden Indian is also one of the shops selling the Cocoa Di Padre, this month’s Limited Cigar Association “LCA Plus” offering.
Perfect segue? The Limited Cigar Association is happy to announce the next LCA drop, The Diver! This is the first Connecticut Broadleaf LCA selection and will be available across the network at the strike of Midnight (EST) on the morning of Friday, the 4th of November. For those on the West Coast of the US, this means 9:00 PM on Thursday, the 3rd of November. This 6×54 blend has been aged for 2 years and features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Colombian binder, and fillers from Estelí, Nicaragua, Jamastran, Honduras, and Jamaica. To find the nearest Limited Cigar Association affiliated shop, head over to the LCA Locator available on the Privada Cigar Club site.
Two weeks ago to the day, HVC announced this year’s Black Friday De HVC 2022 LE. Today, we’ve got an even clearer picture of when they will be available. The 5.5 x 50 Robusto Extra drops next week! This falls right within the tentative timeline that Reinier Lorenzo, founder and CEO, originally provided. For many reasons, almost all of them supply chain issues, a lot of scheduled releases have been as much as a year behind. Many times the cigars are ready, but without bands to adorn them or boxes to surround them. Given all those givens, it is nice to think that timelines may start normalizing in 2023 – though it would be unrealistic to look at one example alone. Anomaly or not, what is certain is that there are many enthusiasts looking forward to experiencing this year’s expression!
Last week we shared information about the Sisters Of The Leaf Global Movement and the work that their SOTL Extraversion Committee has been tasked with. Today, please meet the members of the SOTL Social Committee. LaTrisa Dickens, Eileen Brito, Sarah Donvito, Kendall Stephens, Christine Svendsen, and April C. Wright have all accepted roles with the shared mission of observing, documenting, and ultimately profiling the sociological aspects of cigar culture. The other 5 committees include the SOTL & BOTL Collaboration Committee as well as the SOTL Sensory, Extraversion Culture, and Scientific Committees. You can find out more about the movement here.
We join the industry this week in wishing a Happy Birthday to José Blanco! Blanco’s story is the stuff of cinema. A career steeped in heritage, he has helped some of the most prestigious brands in the industry connect with cigar lovers. Former Senior Vice President Joya de Nicaragua S.A.,the oldest Nicaraguan cigar company. Former Sales Director of the oldest Dominican cigar company, La Aurora. Former Senior Vice President of Ernesto Perez Carrillo’s Dominican EPC Cigars. In 2020, Blanco officially became Director of Sales, Eastern Hemisphere, for Arturo Fuente. Many in the industry respectfully refer to him as “The Professor.” Don’t miss out on Fuente and Meerapfel Present: Meet the Professor on YouTube!
Wishing you another great week ahead full of your favorite cigars and your favorite people. Keep on sending in your favorite cigar related news stories, posts and videos!