Weekly News (January 24, 2011)

Update (January 26, 2011): Due to conflicting details about the Viaje White Label Project, we cannot confirm as of now that the cigar is in fact based off the Summerfest blend. More info below (after the jump.) – el niño diablo.

On Tuesday, we broke the news regarding the discontinuation of the AVO 787. La Sirena, Miami Cigar & Co.’s newest release, is in Miami at the warehouse, should be at retailers in a few days. In other news from Miami Cigar & Co., the La Aurora Corojo will be released at the 2011 IPCPR show. For anyone that was at the show this past year, you’ll know it was one of the cigars featured at the booth, however packaging and branding concerns led to a decision to relaunch and release the cigar in July. It will feature new packaging and banding, but the cigar itself will be the same. La Aurora also announced that the 1495 BME Sumo Short Robusto will be making it’s U.S. debut. The NUb-style cigar has been in the European markets since early fall, and Miami Cigar & Co. has now decided to bring the cigar to the U.S. market. It’s 4 x 58 and should be available in a few packaging options, including boxes of five. In other large ring gauge news, the Cain F NUb is also shipping this week, the post from when we originally broke the story now has price points for the two sizes. In other Oliva/Studio Tobac news, rumor has it the Studio Tobac tour will start on el niño diablo’s birthday.

Update: We were right… here’s some pictures and more info. – el niño diablo

You heard it here first, Viaje’s newest release, the WLP (White Label Project) is shipping today. Fifty bundles of twenty-five Corona Gordas based off of the Summerfest blend will retail for $7.50. Five retailers around the country will get them, likely by the end of the week.

Berger & Arengti tweeted about the Entubar V32 & the MOOCH Maduro. I’ve tried to contact Berger & Argenti about just what V32 is, as I have some ideas, I think. The La Flor Dominicana sales staff was in the Dominican Republic this past week trying some new things, and some fun things like the Limbaugh Chisel, a regular Chisel, but an inch longer. Skip Martin continues to leak details regarding the CroMagnon release that he and Adrian’s Premium Cigars – Manufactured in Esteli, Nicaragua, using a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan filler. La Palina will be launching a new line over the summer at a more affordable price range, $10ish is the word as of now. A few weeks ago, it seems that S.T. Dupont decided to introduce a more affordable lighter, the S.T. Dupont Ligne 8, with a MSRP of $395. In other lighting news, Drew Estate has new matches.

The IPCPR posted their thoughts on the proposed tobacco taxes in Nebraska and a poll conducted by the Robert Wood Foundation. The IPCPR also commented on the proposed Raleigh, NC park ban.

And Cuba… interesting news from CubanCigarWebsite, including proposals such as the Cohiba 1966 and a chance that the Montecristo No. 2 Gran Reserva might be Maduro? Also are updates and proposal to the standard releases, LEs and REs. C.Gars Ltd has released the newest Orchant Seleccion cigars: the El Rey de Mundo Tainos Orchant Seleccion and the Bolivar Coronas Tubos Orchant Seleccion. These are specifically selected by Mitchell Orchant and each carry a secondary band.

Finally, a few weeks ago Rich Perelman posted this message on CigarCylopedia announcing its unexpected closing. I responded, calling “bullshit” – and some weren’t thrilled. My point was this, if the reason for closing CigarCylopedia was because the server costs had become too costly and outweighed advertising, (which still by the way seems a bit far-fetched given traffic), why would one leave the site up with archives (keeping a large portion of said server costs), while decreasing any chance of new advertising. That was all. I don’t have any built up hatred for Perelman, as his site was a phenomenal resource – one that I read daily and it will no doubt be missed. A few minutes ago, Perelman posted this message, which adds some sense… CigarCylopedia is done as of January 31st, Perelman will continue to publish his pocket book of cigars, but the website and its vast wealth of knowledge is done and I will be sad to see it leave.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.