Something fascinating about mankind… We have the capacity to make things. Of course we also have the capacity to destroy or cause problems, but we hope to strive for the good. When we see craftsmanship or creativity many of us are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. In our past, creativity was a kind of survival skill. We had to create new things like shelter and tools in order to survive or improve quality of life. Since civilization emerged, our creativity has morphed into the aesthetic and the artistic. In some cases, it can even take on a competitive facet. We want to know if we can do it better than the other guy, or we want to know if we can do it at all, thereby competing with ourselves. We want to experiment with our own creative nature. We want to know if we can make what we see others make. We want to know if we can make it better. This has always been a part of our nature, and this trait is responsible for some of the most wonderful things that we still enjoy today.
Then there's something called Ristefari. Don't worry if you've never heard of it. By the end of this article you will probably want to go. Ristefari is the brainchild of Riste Ristevski, owner and founder of Jas Sum Kral Cigars (JSK). In a nutshell Ristefari is like a cigar event, a cigar festival and a family reunion combined into a weekend. In early March of 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend Ristefari 2018. Here's a rundown of some of the best points of Ristefari.
Following our attendance to the IPCPR 2015 trade show this past week, we gathered all of the Blind Man's Puff team that was there so that we could do a recap of the event. We cover things we were excited about going into the show, things we were excited about coming out of the show, cigars we smoked and our overall thoughts about the event and products.
2021 is the first year that Blind Man's Puff will be at the TPE (Tobacco Plus Expo) trade show. From today, May 12th through Friday May 14th, keep checking back here for more updates and follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts for live pictures and video interviews from the show floor. You can click the above links to follow our accounts on each platform or view them all together in the feed below.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Imagine a car enthusiast having an opportunity to tour the Ferrari factory in Maranello, or someone who is a collector of fine watches going to visit Patek Philippe in Geneva. The chance to actually see your favorite products being constructed by hand can be a real treat for the senses, and it can also give a heightened respect for the work that goes into creating these items that we love so much. For premium cigar lovers the products that we consume are some of the most artfully and painstakingly crafted products in the world. Still, so many cigar lovers still don't have the first-hand experience of seeing what goes into growing fine tobacco and crafting great cigars. During Puro Sabor 2018 I was able to visit a number of cigar factories, large and small. In this second article of the series about the festival I will take you through these factories in the same order that I visited them.
Operation Esteli is a joint effort between BOTL.org and MPI designed to provide education enrichment, food security, nutrition, as well as safe housing and shelter to disadvantaged children in Esteli, Nicaragua. This is the second year for Operation Esteli. In 2014, more than $12,000 was raised, which resulted in the provision of teacher training, school supplies and learning materials, and nutritious school lunches to support more than 700 students, as well providing the funding required to construct a new home for a family in need.

