halfwheel

Review: Viva Republica Rapture Maduro Revel (Prerelease)

Back in July, Brooks reviewed a cigar that he came across “tucked inside the La Aurora booth at IPCPR 2012” from a company who had been sending out letters to retailers and media outlets (including halfwheel) announcing Projekt Rapture. The company? Viva Republica. The cigar? The Rapture, which promised “intense flavor with a medium-to-full body.” [...]

Review: Davidoff Puro d’Oro Gordito (Prerelease)

Earlier this month, Davidoff announced it was nearing the eighth release of its Puro d’Oro line, the Gordito. The cigar begins shipping to retailers this week, meaning the 3 3/4 x 58 vitola will begin arriving in stores just before March.  Davidoff’s press release covered the basic details: Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos: a new addition [...]

Review: E.P. Carrillo Edición Limitada 2012

In late November 2012, E.P. Carrillo released the third edition of its annual limited release, the E.P. Carrillo Edición Limitada 2012. The 6 1/2 x 56 Toro Gordo was not widely publicized prior to its release, a slight departure from the company’s norm regarding releases, but some form of the cigar was expected given the [...]

Review: Viva Republica Guerrilla Warfare (Prerelease)

Viva Republica is a fairly new brand produced out of La Aurora’s E. León Jimenes Tabacalera factory in the Dominican Republic. Its first release, the Rapture, was launched at the IPCPR show in 2012 and the company has quite a few more blends in the pipeline for release in 2013. We broke the news on Guerrilla [...]

Review: Jameson La Resolución Toro (Prerelease)

In July 2012, just a few weeks before the IPCPR Convention and Trade Show, Jameson Cigar Co. announced that they would be adding a new single-vitola line to their portfolio named La Resolución. The cigar’s name comes from a Cuban brand that existed in the mid-1800s but that not much else was known about, other than it used [...]

Review: Quesada The Blender’s Sampler Robusto

Earlier, we broke news on The Quesada Blender’s Sampler, a new limited edition Robusto sampler from Quesada and its U.S. distribution arm, SAG Imports.  To recap: SAG Imports, the distribution arm of Quesada, is set to release its most popular blends in the form of a special sampler. The Quesada Blender’s Sampler will feature eight Robustos, [...]

Review: Arturo Fuente Unnamed Reserve 2012

About two weeks ago, we started hearing rumblings of a brand new Fuente blend that was being shipped to retailers. Almost nothing was known about the blend or size before they started showing up to stores, but we quickly confirmed that it uses a Sun Grown wrapper, and includes the same filler as the Don [...]

Review: La Flor Dominicana Meaner Digger

Taking things to ever bigger and longer extremes in the cigar world, the La Flor Dominicana Meaner Digger was created as a store exclusive for Tobacco Haven in Brookline, NH, who held an “end of the world” release party on December 21, 2012. News of this new cigar came out just after Thanksgiving, just shy of [...]

Review: OpusX Phantom (1994)

In late 1995, the Fuente Fuente OpusX cigars was officially released for the first time in seven different vitolas. They were an instant success and their popularity has only grown since then. In 2009, 14 years later, a bundle of extremely rare OpusX Phantoms, the name Fuente gives to its Lancero vitola, were put up [...]

Review: Montecristo Epic No. 2 Premium Selection 2007

In June of 2012, Altadis USA sent out a press release that made a few people scratch their heads. It was a press release for the newest Montecristo line, the Montecristo Epic Premium Selection ’07, and there were a lot of promises. In case you need a refresher, here’s the text: June 29, 2012 — [...]