In the case of shop events, it can be challenging for a small cigar shop. The difficulty comes in a few different forms. On one hand, a smaller cigar shop simply doesn't have as much space for customers. Also, a brand owner would typically be less inclined to spend the time money and effort to hold an event at a small cigar shop. But brands who have a broad following and dedicated group of talented sales reps can take chances on small shop events, and sometimes turn them into a success. In late July of 2018, I spent the evening at my local shop and had a wonderful time at a small scale cigar event.
This is the time of year that publications, websites and passionate cigar smokers start releasing their “Cigar of the Year” lists. Not all of these lists are created equally though, so we wanted to point out what some of the differences are, what you should be looking for and what to take into consideration when evaluating them or comparing them to other lists.
At the end of August, just over two weeks ago, Smoker Friendly Hosted the 13th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival...
5 VegasAJ FernandezAllDieselDion GiolitoE.P. CarrilloE.P. CarrilloEditorialFeaturedGeorge RicoGran HabanoIllusioneJ. FuegoJ. FuegoJesus FuegoJorge PadronNestor PlasenciaNick PerdomoPerdomoTips and TricksTony Alvarez
·This is a compilation of our favorite budget cigars, some we have reviewed, some we have not. We will try and get to reviewing all of these eventually and we will keep adding more bargains as we find them.
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.
This year, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival put on their 10th Annual event. Blind Man's Puff has been to almost all of them. We've seen it go from a festival with just a few booths from big manufacturers to one of the largest cigar events in the country with booths from all types of cigar companies.
Smoke Inn and Abe Dababneh are hosting a "Battle of the Bands" for cigars. Abe chose 6 of the biggest Cigar Media websites and asked each of them to make a sampler. The sampler selling the most at the end of the competition will be crowned the winner. Now through Monday use code LBRDAY and get 20% off you order at Smoke Inn including this sampler, bringing the price down to only $43. Click here to buy our sampler. Battle of the Bands ends midnight, Sunday October 4th and a LIVE virtual results show including all the competitors will be broadcast Monday, October 5th, 8PM EST.
Overall, this is a great piece of traditional, yet modern, cigar clothing. I would not hesitate in recommending this for your formal or casual cigar event if you want to stand out a bit from the crowd. The price is right, and the quality is high, so do yourself a favor and check out the Y.A. Bera website.
In my most recent trip to Nicaragua I was fortunate to attend Puro Sabor 2018. Puro Sabor is a celebration of the Nicaraguan cigar industry and the people who make it so wonderful. I had previously been to Nicaragua once before, in the fall of 2015, and I was so grateful to be able to go back again. Since there's so much to cover about this trip I'll break it into a series of different articles each covering different aspects of the trip itself. One theme that I hope you'll notice in all of these articles is the people. The people are the most important aspect of every piece of the cigar industry in Nicaragua. Nothing is more important to the industry than its people and it's the relationships that make the cigar industry in Nicaragua so beautiful and so wonderful.
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.


