January 5, 2015- Brickell-Miami is ready to welcome Casa De Montecristo by Prime Cigar & Whiskey Bar, a sanctuary where “sophisticated relaxation” isn’t just their motto, but a way of life. Prime Cigar’s first location in Boca Raton, set them apart as the premier cigar bar in South Florida. They will now partner with Altadis USA, one of the world’s top premium cigar manufacturers, to unveil a one of kind cigar and whisky lounge, with a Miami twist. The new establishment opens its doors in early 2016, located in the heart of Miami’s business district, at Brickell’s newly built 1100 Millecento residential tower.
The Henry Clay brand might not be one of Altadis U.S.A.'s premier lines, but Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars has had an affinity for these oft-ignored cigars ever since he started smoking them. Now, the Altadis blending team known as the Grupo de Maestros has worked closely with Johnson and will be releasing a collaborative cigar dubbed the Henry Clay Tattoo.
"This has been a good cigar to smoke. Not overpowering, but with enough spice and pepper throughout to keep my attention and make it enjoyable. It has been a nice, relaxing, creamy smoke. This would be a great cigar for a beginner looking to get into cigars." -Wes (SosaCub4Life)
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.
AaronAllBlind Cigar ReviewsChurchillCraigDaveFeaturedGreggHabanoHondurasJose SeijasNaturalRomeo y Julieta (DR)Ron
·"I don't normally smoke much in the way of "big" cigars. Anything that takes longer than about 90 minutes to smoke usually wont keep my attention. This cigar did a pretty good job of keeping me interested though and was nice to smoke. I don't know if its close enough to my normal "likes" for me to run out and make a purchase on, but I would certainly re-visit it down the road and give it another shot." -Dave (mdwest)
The first thing we were shown at the Altadis booth was the new addition to the Montecristo Espada, the Espada Estoque.
"I enjoyed this cigar. It's milder than my typical smoke, and the blend really focuses on a natural sweet tobacco flavor. It's a nice change from the earth and chocolate-heavy nicaraguans I tend to favor, and very different from the CC's I prefer, being much "thinner" in body. While I would generally prefer the richness of a CC or the boldness of a Nicaraguan, this was an interesting change up for me, and one I enjoyed. Recommended for fans of milder smokes, or medium cigars with natural sweet tobacco core flavors like the El Triunfador." -Derek (StogieNinja)
Aging RoomAllArturo FuenteBlack Label Trading CompanyBodegaC.L.E.CamachoCAOChinnock CellarsClaudio SgroiCuban StockDrew EstateE.P. CarrilloE.P. CarrilloEdgar HoillEiroa by CLEEspinosaEzra ZionFeaturedFlor de GonzalezGran HabanoHammer + SickleIPCPRJonathan DrewJoya De NicaraguaLa Flor DominicanaMombachoMy FatherNomadO.S.O.K.OlivaOrtegaPadillaPura SoulRocky PatelStudio TobacSWAGTatuajeVentura CigarsVeritas
·Since the show, we had been publishing the various slideshows of the different booths we took pictures of. Here you can see the full list and click directly to the slideshow as the manufacturers are listed in alphabetical order.
Montecristo Espada is described by Altadis as a spicy cigar that owes its strong, piquant character to a variety of growing regions in Nicaragua. Featuring a Cuban-seed Habano wrapper and binder from Jalapa, the cigar combines several different Nicaraguan tobaccos in the filler from Jalapa, Ometepe and Condega.
Source: Cigar Aficionado José Seijas, a member of the Cigar Aficionado Hall of Fame with nearly 60 years of experience...