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News: Espinosa & Ortega Split Up EO Brands

Erik Espinosa and Eddie Ortega are back in control of the 601, Cubao, Murcielago and more—but EO Brands is officially done. Two weeks after Rocky Patel informed retailers the company would no longer be handling distribution of the EO marks, United Tobacco/EO Brands has been bought back by the duo, divided and dissolved. Espinosa and [...]

News: Erik Espinosa Launches Espinosa Premium Cigars

Orestes “Erik” Espinosa has a new cigar company. Earlier this week, Espinosa Premium Cigars began appearing on a variety of social media platforms. Espinosa is most famous for being the E in EO Brands/United Tobacco, a partnership with Eddie Ortega the pair founded in 2003. Over the past decade the company has put out numerous cigars [...]

Weekly News (September 26, 2011)

Editor’s Note: Surreal is the word of the day. This week, the industry lost one of its brightest figures — Bert Gottfried of Oliva Family of Cigars. Many offered up their words on Bert’s life and many did so in our small tribute to Bert. For anyone that knew Bert, this sort of support comes [...]

News: Changes in Cubao’s Distribution (Updated)

Rocky Patel confirmed that EO Brands’ Cubao line is now being sold exclusively through mail-in order retailer Thompson’s. There’s a slight caveat in that the official word from a representative from Rocky Patel was, “it’s still available to (brick and mortars) that want it.” We last reviewed Cubao as part of Lancero50 here. Rocky Patel [...]

Lancero50 Redux

Some Random Thoughts… Lanceros are a Pain in the Ass to Photograph — Or at least if you try to stand them up. They are long and thin. Light enough for any bit of wind to pick them up and blow over, and a tiny base makes it difficult for them to even stand up. [...]

Review: Cubao No. 3

EO Brands is one of the quieter companies in the industry. Cubao? Perhaps the quietest brand. 601 takes most of the attention, and those that know about Murcielago seem to love “The Bat.” But, Cubao? Not exactly in the spotlight. Admittedly, I don’t smoke a whole lot of Cubaos, but none of them have been [...]

Weekly News (March 28, 2011)

Pete Johnson gave an update to Saints & Sinners. Pete is waiting on swag for the club, which he says won’t be in until May, meaning that he’s going to hold back the launch a bit later than the April 1st (Friday) launch date he wanted. The good news is, it shouldn’t be much longer [...]

State of the Brand: EO Brands/United Tobacco

It’s been a while since we heard from EO Brands, which was one of the hottest stories this summer, as the merger with Rocky Patel obviously was not something that was important to many. After the jump, some updates on EO Brands 601. First, the question everyone is wondering about… are those (ugly) bands going [...]

Weekly News (December 13, 2010)

Apologies for the lack of reviews recently, things have been hectic, but normalcy should return this week. As a few of you know, I was in Atlanta this past week for Buckhead Cigar Club’s Tweet-Up. One half of Tiki Bar Online and Stogie Review were represented, along with a few of the more popular cigar [...]