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.
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.
ACMEAllBalmoralBill PaleyCaldwellCamachoCAOCrowned HeadsCubaCubariquenoDanny MoyaDavidoffDion GiolitoDominican RepublicDon Pepin GarciaDrew EstateDunbarton Tobacco & TrustEditorialFeaturedFoundation CigarFred ReweyH. Upmann (Cuba)Hendrik KelnerHondurasIllusioneIPCPRJon HuberJonathan DrewKyle GellisL'AtelierLa PalinaManuel QuesadaMax FernandezMoyaRuizNelson RuizNewsNicaraguaNicholas MelilloPartagasPete JohnsonQuesadaRick RodriguezRobert CaldwellRoMa CraftSkip MartinSteve SakaTatuajeTop 25USAWarpedWilly Herrera
·Voting Process
Each of our 16 panelists were given 10 votes to cast. Our list is made up of cigars that were RELEASED in 2015. The cigars that are eligible do not have to have been reviewed on Blind Man's Puff, but the panelist must have smoke it at some point themselves.
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.
IS A MAN ANY LESS "MANLY" BECAUSE HE'S NOT A BEER DRINKER? Speaking for myself, I never fully acquired a palate for the bitter, malty taste of beer. Maybe because I was always a soda drinker I got spoiled by the sugary taste of Pepsi, 7-Up, and the like, which today I no longer drink. Of course, as I matured, I came to appreciate a few beers, but mostly the lighter, sweeter fare.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.

