In a “strategic alliance agreement,” Altadis U.S.A. will begin distributing the products from Boutique Blends Cigars, a company owned by Rafael Nodal, his wife, Alina, and partner Hank Bischoff—and Nodal has accepted a position with Altadis as well. Starting June 5, all orders for brands such as Aging Room, La Bohéme, Oliveros and other cigars by Boutique Blends will be taken and fulfilled through Altadis and its sales team.
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“I really enjoyed this cigar. The pepper & sweetness mix was outstanding. The body & complexity rounded each other nicely.” –Jeff R. (JR)
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“Geez, where do I begin? First off it was a joy to just look at it. The flavors were fantastic, even the one that I still can’t come up with the name too, and is flat out driving me nuts trying to get the name of it. My luck I’ll wake up at 3:30 in the morning after I submit the review with the name of it! All I can say is that I loved every minute I spent with this stogie. And it was a LOT of minutes! It was very slow burning, and lasted a long time. Don’t know what it is, or the price, but I’m figuring you’ll get your money’s worth.” –Robert (NavyPiper)
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The Rocky Mountain Cigar festival is always a great event with good people, and awesome vendors. It has been growing steadily since it’s inception in 2011. Unfortunately I was deathly ill last year and wasn’t able to attend and see the new venue. This year I was feeling great and ready to smoke, and it didn’t disappoint. Joined by our panelist Jack, we conquered almost the entire festival.
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This was a very nice cigar. There were a core set of flavors that made many transitions throughout. Lots of pepper in the initial third along with cedar and cream. Some sweetness went in and out and the mineral flavor that showed up in the second half of the cigar was a welcome addition. The performance was fantastic and allowed me to just focus on the flavors. A good amount of strength along with the fuller body would make me recommend this as an evening cigar after a meal or as a second or later cigar in the day.
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This was by far my favorite new cigar from IPCPR this year and one of my favorites overall this year. This was so smooth and buttery and the flavors were always balanced and great. It had just the right amount of spice throughout. The flavor profile and aged tobacco flavors I found are usually unique to Cuban cigars. It was full flavored and complex with lots of transitions without being overly powerful. The price is a bit steep, but I will be buying a box of these, no question. I give this a personal score of 96 (Extraordinary).
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This year, we decided to give you a tour of the show through the pictures we took while we were there. Some are of new items, and some are just things we thought were interesting. These manufacturers were not sharing booth space, we just combined them into a single slideshow due to the number of pictures we had from each.
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There’s a new production of Puccini’s famous La Bohéme, but it won’t be playing in any opera house—it will be found in tobacconists. Boutique Blends president Rafael Nodal, has named his newest cigar brand in honor of his favorite opera.
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“The lighter flavors of the first two thirds were just the ticket for a hot humid afternoon while the bolder flavors at the end gave the cigar a nice finish. I appreciate that this stick stayed true to it’s flavor profile while adding enough variation to keep it interesting.” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
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“This was a VERY good cigar. I’d smoke these any chance I get. I was able to finish this one during an “extended” break at work and enjoyed every minute of it. Definitely a keeper.” -Milton (mjohnsoniii)
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“Excellent cigar overall. While it wasn’t that interesting from the flavor change department, it delivered very enjoyable flavors from start to finish.” -Jason (bigslowrock)
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“Creamy cedar with light pepper joined by splashes of coffee around the halfway point. It blends really well with the nutmeg and cocoa flavors in the tobacco providing a nice balance and a pleasant smoking experience.” -Ron (shuckins)
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