halfwheel

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: Viaje Holiday Blend 2012 Petit Robusto

The Viaje Holiday Blend debuted in 2009 with a single 5 x 54 size but has since evolved to be a release comprised of two vitolas each year. In 2012, Viaje added the first barber pole version with the Holiday Blend Candy Cane and Holiday Blend 2012 becoming the eighth and ninth releases in the [...]

Review: STUDIO TOBAC Cain Special Release

During the 2012 STUDIO TOBAC Tour, attendees who purchased a box of cigars received a STUDIO TOBAC Limited Edition Sampler 2012, along with a chance to win a box of one of two event only releases: the Cain Special Release or the Cain NUb Daytona 460. Says STUDIO TOBAC Brand Ambassador Bryan Scholle: The Ligero used in this [...]

Redux: Tatuaje Avion 12

At the 2012 IPCPR trade show, Tatuaje introduced the newest version of its box-pressed Perfecto version of Fausto, Avion 12. It was the second year of the limited production cigar, which debuted the year prior alongside the Fausto. Both blends are based off of the non-commercial Tatuaje Thermonuclear, a cigar Pete Johnson created privately in 2005 and never formally [...]

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: Tatuaje Anarchy Apocalypse

You’ve no doubt heard about the predictions for the end of the world that came and went in recent weeks – specifically the end of the Mayan calendar that had some people fearing the explosion of the planet on either December 21. While December 21st didn’t bring the end of the world, the hype surrounding the [...]

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 [...]

Redux: Oliva Serie V Culebra

Back in the first week of halfwheel’s existence in January of 2012, I reviewed one of the rarest Oliva cigars made, the Oliva V Culebra. Only 200 were officially produced over a span of about five years, and odds are, 99% of the cigar smoking public didn’t even know they existed prior to the review. [...]