halfwheel

Redux: La Gloria Cubana Deliciosos (ER Cuba 2009)

Launched in 2005 as a way to bring certain marcas into different regions of the world, Habanos S.A.’s Edición Regional program finally produced a cigar for its home country in 2010, as the La Gloria Cubana Deliciosos Edición Regional Cuba was released at the Habanos Festival in February of that year. Available for purchase only on [...]

Redux: Trinidad Robusto T

In 2009, Habanos S.A. celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Trinidad brand by releasing a Robusto in the Trinidad line at the Havana Libre hotel during the XI Festival del Habano in Cuba. It was sold in 12 and 24 count boxes, but sadly in 2012 it was announced that both the Robusto T and the Robusto Extra were being discontinued bringing the total number of regular production vitolas in the [...]

Redux: Para Japón by La Aurora

Shortly after a massive 8.9–magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan in March 2011, a group of online cigar media were visiting La Aurora’s facilities in the Dominican Republic. In that group was Mario Takeyama of Cigar Explorer, who was born in Japan and felt the call to do something as an industry member to [...]

Redux: Viaje Friends and Family

In February of 2012, Viaje released one of their most secretive blends with almost no fanfare or foreknowledge. Said to be produced select retailers started getting single boxes of the box-pressed Churchill out of the blue. At over $15.00 per cigar, the Friends and Family was the most expensive Viaje up to that point and [...]

Redux: Alec Bradley Fine & Rare Toro

One of the more talked about cigars of the 2011 IPCPR show in Las Vegas was the Alec Bradley Fine & Rare. It employed ten different types of tobacco, including seven different fillers, which the company boasted as being the only cigar on the market to do that. It was also the company’s first attempt [...]

Redux: My Father Atlantic Cigar Co. 15th Anniversary Box-Pressed Robusto

In February of 2012, site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. released the second in their four part 15th Anniversary Series. Made by My Father, it was a box-pressed Robusto measuring 5 1/2 x 52 with an Ecuadorian Habano Criollo over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers. Only 400 boxes of 15 cigars were produced with singles priced at $8.00 and $111.95 for [...]

Redux: Quesada Q d’etat Molotov

I seem to be in the minority about the early February release of the Quesada Q d’etat, the Molotov. For me, the inaugural release of the Q d’etat release did not live up to the strides Quesada had made with the España, Oktoberfest and Tributo. While I found plenty of flavor, it wasn’t very appealing [...]

Redux: Undercrown Corona ¡Viva!

In May of this year, Drew Estate shipped its first extension to the Undercrown line, Corona ¡Viva! The idea was simple, slightly tweak the Undercrown blend to fit the Corona Gorda vitola. While the project was formally announced in December of 2011 and limited samples were available earlier in this year. Here’s what I said [...]

Redux: Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story Maduro (2011)

The Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story Maduro has been one of the hardest cigars to find over the last fifteen years. That changed a bit last year, when it was introduced in very limited quantities at the IPCPR show in Las Vegas in 2011. As they have done with other cigars in the past, Fuente [...]

Redux: Viaje Skull and Bones White Daisy Cutter

In May of 2010, Viaje cigars released their first in what would eventually become an almost comically large number of Skull and Bones cigars. Named after a popular bomb that was retired in 2008, the Daisy Cutter was one of the cigars, along with the original release Exclusivo Robustos and the original release Holiday Blend that [...]