halfwheel

A Visit to Plasencia Cigars S.A.

I have loved the country of Nicaragua since my first trip in early 2012, in particular, the city of Estelí. Of course it is a mecca for cigars, but it’s also one of the most interesting places I have been in all my years of traveling. I have visited many of the cigar factories in Estelí and met [...]

News: Nicaragua’s Jalapa Region Battles Paratrioza Bacteria, Again

Early last year, Nicaragua’s near flawless rise to the top of the cigar world experienced arguably its largest problem in the last decade and a half. In the northwestern region of Jalapa, the part of the country that borders Honduras—tobacco plants were dying midway through the season with the undersides of the leaves ravaged in [...]

Review: Humo Jaguar Robusto

Today we will be taking a look at a cigar from Nestor Plasencia and the distributors at Miami Cigar & Co., the Humo Jaguar! This past February 2011 marked the first annual Honduran Cigar festival otherwise known as the Humo Jaguar, a place and time dedicated to all the Honduran tobacco producers of cigars sold [...]

IPCPR 2011: La Aurora and Miami Cigar & Co.

Too much. In a year were many manufacturers made it very clear they were aware of the amount of new releases collectively, Miami Cigar & Co. and La Aurora seemed to have missed the meeting. Jason Wood explained that it was the first time where La Aurora had offered a plethora of new releases, but [...]

IPCPR 2011: Quesada

I saw Terence Reilly pretty early into my stay into Vegas. I had a good conversation with one of the key players at Quesada/MATASA/SAG Imports, about a variety of things, but particularly about the present and future of the company his uncle, Manuel “Manolo” Quesada, sits at the helm of. The IPCPR show was relatively [...]

News: La Aurora/Miami Cigar IPCPR Preview

There are more? Miami Cigar & Co. and La Aurora have already shed light on a host of new releases for the IPCPR show, but there are more. (By my count, MCC/La Aurora and Perdomo are currently leading the arbitrary competition for most new releases at the 2011 IPCPR, but that’s besides the point.) The [...]

Weekly News (May 16, 2011)

Editor’s Note: A lot of tidbits of cigars that we haven’t mentioned this week, but the two major stories are the information regarding the El Rey de los Habanos lawsuit and Michael Herklots’ departure from Davidoff of Geneva. I’ll use this editorial space to comment on some of the interesting reactions to Maryland’s most recent [...]

Review: Los Blancos NINE Lancero

Today’s review would fall in the category os the lesser known, although this isn’t a huge secret. The Los Blancos NINE Lancero has been around since 2009, the blend itself since 2007, but these aren’t exactly a common sight in most humidors. The line has received little attention since its release almost two years ago, [...]

Review: Casa Magna Robusto

Ok, so I am just a bit late (ahem) with this review, since the controversy has died down (somewhat), but as my father always told me, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” (Of course, he was also fond of telling me “Son, don’t even THINK about eating that yellow snow”, but that is a [...]