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Review: Pinar Del Rio Reserva Superior Salomon

In August of 2012, Pinar del Rio debuted a new vitola in the Reserva Superior line at the IPCPR show in Orlando, Fla., a 6 x 66 Salomon that would be limited to 1,000 boxes of 10 with each cigar in its own coffins. The defining characteristic of the Reserva Superior blend is that made up of [...]

Press Release: Shon Brooks Invents “Star Cigar” for Dominican Republic

May 3, 2013 (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) — Santo Domingo is the busiest cigar capital in the world. After 3 years in the making comes along a ‘star cigar’ created for the cigar aficionado and enthusiast. Cigars are ranked and graded with the attempt of achieving the highest score in points. The (GPA) Grade Point [...]

Review: E.P. Carrillo Federal 92nd Anniversary Medalla D’ Oro

Today we’re looking at the E.P. Carrillo Federal 92nd Anniversary Medalla D’ Oro, the latest in the line of Federal Cigar Anniversary cigars. Back in February we wrote about the upcoming release. The cigar is based on the 2012 Short Run blend though the filler for the Medalla D’Oro is said to contain a little [...]

Review: Kristoff 685 Woodlawn (Prerelease)

On March 29, Glen Case of Kristoff released the details of his new small batch cigar in an exclusive to halfwheel. The Kristoff 685 Woodlawn draws its name from the suburban Chicago house in which Case lived until he was 21 years old. While the Kristoff 685 Woodlawn won’t be formally released until the IPCPR [...]

Redux: Cheveta Habano Toro

In early 2011, Mark Just, owner of Tower Pipes and Cigars purchased the boutique Chaveta cigars, which is produced by Pinar del Rio. While the original blend features a Brazilian Bahia Maduro wrapper over Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, there were 1,000 Toros produced in February of 2012 that replaced the Maduro wrapper with Habano one. [...]

Review: Fonseca Cubano Exclusivo Robusto (Prerelease)

Last month we got the news out of SAG Imports that it was releasing a new Fonseca line called the Cubano Exclusivo. The cigar was developed with the idea that they wanted to take the easily recognizable Fonseca branding and develop a cigar that breaks out of the expected smooth and mild Fonseca profile. The cigar [...]

Review: OpusX Football

Ask anyone who has the slightest knowledge about OpusX cigars which cigar they would most like to smoke, and chances are the Fuente Fuente OpusX Football will be extremely high on the list. Yes, it’s an OpusX-banded cigar that is shaped like a football. While normal Fuente Fuente OpusX releases are highly sought after by [...]

Review: La Flor Dominicana Mystery

Last month, La Flor Dominicana announced a new cigar called the “Mystery Cigar” that would be given out and sold exclusively at specific events in 2013. Details on the blend are being purposely kept secret, as are total production numbers and even if it will be released again in the future. The press release had [...]

Review: Davidoff Up Down 50th Anniversary

On November 1 and 2, 2012, Up Down Cigar in Chicago, Ill., held events to celebrate the store’s 50th anniversary. On hand to commemorate the milestone was famed Davidoff blender Henke Kelner, who not only attended, but who also ran a blending seminar for those who were present. In addition, the event was the release of [...]

Review: E.P. Carrillo Smokin’ Joe’s Lounge Exclusive

On February 20, Smokin’ Joe’s in Alcoa, Tenn. announced that it had just received the initial shipment of a new E.P. Carrillo Lounge Exclusive made just for them, the first E.P. Carrillo branded lounge in the world. The store added the E.P. Carrillo lounge in late fall of 2012, outfitting it with leather massage recliners, [...]