I must admit, when I approached the home rollers on the BOTL web forum about a friendly contest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I learned that coordinating a series of this type is a big logistical challenge for which I was unprepared. In the end, it was a good experience for me. I hope it was also a good experience for those who participated, and especially our readers.
The festival starts out in the city of Granada. Although not known particularly for making cigars, it is Nicaragua's oldest city. I found Granada to be much more tourist-friendly than my previous visit to Esteli. It is Nicaragua's sixth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically. It has a rich colonial heritage, seen in its architecture and structure. Granada was founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, and is allegedly the first European city in mainland America.
At the end of August, just over two weeks ago, Smoker Friendly Hosted the 13th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival...
ear marked the 12th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. Unfortunately last years event was not held in person so we were not able to do our Blind Tasting Event. In 2019 we did the first ever Blind Cigar Tasting Event for every attendee of the festival and it was a huge success. You can read about it here. This year, we went bigger and the event did not disappoint.
Day two started out with a boat tour of Lake Nicaragua, which we had just seen from a distance the day before. Around the edge of the lake are a ton of tiny inlets or small islands created by the nearby Mombacho Volcano in its last eruption. Along the way, we saw a few monkeys, posh houses, and interesting birds. Unfortunately no bull sharks or American crocodiles.
As I did last year, I thought I would take an opportunity to put down some of my thoughts and observations from the IPCRPR 2015 show that was held in New Orleans this past week. Just to be clear, these are my thoughts and opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Blind Man's Puff or any other member of the team here.
Let’s talk about dry boxing cigars. Summer is upon us and we will soon see higher temperatures and for some of us this can mean the dreaded battles with higher humidity. So why dry box your cigars? There are a number of reasons why you would want to dry box a cigar prior to smoking
Since I have already been to some cigar factories, I had some idea what to expect. What was so wonderful about the tour at the Don Lucas cigar factory was the close family atmosphere. While it is a small factory by some standards, they do not cut corners on quality or final product. They meet or exceed some quality control and aging standards that I have seen from other manufacturers. They don’t disclose what daily production rates are, but they vary. It all depends on what leaf they have in stock that day that is ready to be rolled. They do not base anything off production quotas, but only on quality standards. I greatly admire that practice, especially considering how rare it is becoming in the cigar industry.
Smoker Friendly Hosted the 14th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival at the end of August, just over two weeks ago. This also meant the fourth annual Blind Man's Puff Blind Cigar Tasting Event. In 2019 we did the first ever Blind Cigar Tasting Event for every attendee of the festival and we have done it every year since, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, we handed out more cigars and had more reviews submitted than any previous year.
Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this experience. It gave me an opportunity to do something that, until now, was only a dream. And the great thing is, anyone can do it. There are a few things I would add or improve, and hopefully those things will be changed in the future if this becomes more popular. Those few shortcomings are far outweighed by the awesome experience and attention to detail in presentation. I want to thank Natasha and George again for giving me the opportunity to review this product, I really enjoyed the experience and definitely recommend this to all the intermediate and advanced smokers out there.

