Weekly News (March 7, 2011)

A week after Jerry Cruz proclaimed that the only one who did news was CA, and everyone else shouldn’t really try; Jerry did a bit of “advertising” for himself over at Stogie Review. This time it was two massive updates to the respective futures of E.P. Carrillo and Tatuaje. In addition, this week saw updates regarding Viaje, Rocky Patel, EO Brands/601, Studio Tobac, Gurkha, Padilla, Illusione, Casa Fernandez, the IPCPR show and legislation.

First and foremost, the cigar world lost Tom O’Hearn, the Northeast’s face of Perdomo. I never met the man, but from what I hear, I missed a lot. Thoughts are with the entire O’Hearn and Perdomo families

The first of the Jerry Cruz interviews covered E.P. Carrillo. Ernesto gave the world names and dates of many of the cigars we had mentioned earlier. This included the New Wave Connecticut (NWC) due out in April or May; the Elencos, based on last year’s LE with two additional sizes; a new Habano Short Run for June; the Maduro, which will be shown off in July and the Limitada due out in October. In addition, Ernesto spoke about plans for using various types of leaf in 2012, most notably San Andreas.

And the second was the annual interview with Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. Pete went over his new lines such as Fausto, La Casita Criolla and the Old Man & The C. In addition, he told the world that Saints & Sinners is finally expected to launch shortly with sign-ups available April 1st. Pete also announced that the Meat Locker essentially wasn’t happening in 2011. In addition, what seems like the annual game of “Monster isn’t happening this year” has started regarding the Wolf. Brett Favre?

• Viaje Skull & Bones (3) in March — Picture above, be careful it’s radioactive. No word on box count, pricing or sizes. I’m sure more warning messages will come from the Viaje Facebook account, perhaps more pictures from Paul Palmer? (We broke the story here.)
• New Viaje Oro Reserva in April — I’m hearing more and more that it isn’t going to be the No. 5, the size that took second on CA’s list last year after being relatively unnoticed for most the year. (We broke the story here.)
• Viaje Exclusivo Chiquito Delayed — Rounding out the news was word that the Exclusivo Chiquito isn’t due out until April or May for the two retailers. In addition, rumor has it, all Viaje core products are backordered through September.
• Rocky Patel Decade Edición Limitada 2010 Announced — Same sizes, blend and prices as last year, released next year. That breaking news here.
• Paul Palmer showed off the new Casa Fernandez Arsenio F1, blend is finalized, but sizes aren’t.
• Lou Rodriguez Cigars, a new boutique out of North Carolina, announced its Rosado to be released at the IPCPR show in July.
• Ernesto Padilla tweeted regarding the thought of bringing back the Signature 1932 La Perla, a Petit Corona size.
• 601 got new bands, again. Pictures here.
• The Tobacco Plus Expo took place in Vegas, a few new things were supposed to launch, I honestly have no clue if that happened though.
• Gurkha announced the formation of the Gurkha Tasters Club, one of the many ways they seek to get more involved with the end consumer, something I should have more on info on later this week.
• The IPCPR published their thoughts on California’s proposed smoking ban
• Arthur Gallagher, of Clayton, Missouri, filed a lawsuit against Clayton’s smoking ban citing the equal protection cause of the 14th Amendment.

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.