halfwheel

Review: Ortega The Wild Bunch Island Jim WaHoo (Preproduction)

As you’re likely aware, Eddie Ortega announced an ambitious project in the summer of 2012 dubbed the Wild Bunch that would see him release a new cigar every month in 2013 that would be a tribute to a person that he had met through his cigar-related journeys. Ortega had this to say about the inspiration [...]

Redux: Graycliff Espresso Elegante

Released in late 2003, Graycliff’s Espresso line of cigars became their fullest bodied blend in the entire brand. Originally blended by the creator of the original Cuban Cohiba, Avelino Lara, and Graycliff’s Enrico Garzaroli, the Espresso line is rolled at the Graycliff factory in Nassau, Bahamas. While there are at least nine different vitolas in [...]

Review: Liga Privada Único Serie UF-13 Dark (Prerelease)

It’s been a long wait, but Drew Estate is finally ready for the national release of perhaps its most anticipated Liga Privada ever, the UF-13 Dark. Way back in early 2011, I smoked the first of what would end up being quite a few reiterations of a blend that Liga Privada was working on, dubbed [...]

Review: Cigars of Habanos Custom Rolled Piramides

Today we are looking at the original release of a custom rolled Cuban cigar for the Cigars of Habanos of Hong Kong. These were originally released back in 2010 with plans to only release 300 boxes of 25 cigars. When these were commissioned the blend was created to appeal to the Asian market as this [...]

Review: Ortega The Wild Bunch Iron Mike I-Beam (Preproduction)

In July 2012, Eddie Ortega began talking about a new project he was working on, the Dirty Dozen. While he didn’t release a ton of details at the time, his fondness for social media – Facebook in particular – became a vehicle for little bits of information to be released. When the project was announced, Ortega had [...]

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 [...]

Redux: Tatuaje Limited Series Mexican Experiment Robusto

On May 28, 2012, news began to circulate about a new Tatuaje Limited Series release dubbed the Mexican Experiment. Details were a bit sketchy at first, with the cigar first being noted as a 5 x 50 Robusto, then a retailer contradicted that by saying it was a box-pressed 5 x 52 Robusto. To further confuse things, reports of [...]

Review: Robaina Family La Bestia

To kick off 2013, I had the opportunity to return to Cuba for several days, a trip that included a visit to one of the most well-known farms not just on the island but in the cigar world: Vegas Robaina. Located about three hours southwest of Havana in the town of San Luis in 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 [...]