IPCPR Day 3

We concentrated a little more on new stuff today and spent more time with individual companies to get an understanding of what they are doing and some really interesting conversation with one of the top Cigar Blenders in the industry. Read on...

First stop of the day was Esteban Carrreras Cigars.


They are s small boutique cigar company headquartered in Southern California. They are definitely an up and comer with some very interesting lines and some new cigars that you need to keep a watch out for. We have been speaking with Jeff Blevins their West Coast sales rep for quite a while. We want to make sure that when we bring them in there is recognition of how great a cigar they make. Since they are almost the very definition of boutique cigar blend there is very little marketing or hype around the brand. We have to get the name out mostly on our own. But the cigars speak for themselves once you try one and I'm sure they will be a success. I love their Police line of cigars.  The 5150 is more of a mild cigar but with a lot of great flavor. Something I would personally recommend to a new smoker that wants to start branching out. The 211 is a medium body with a lot of complex flavors. The 187 is sold as a full bodied cigar but I would put it more as a strong medium but with a huge flavor profile that will surprise you. They also come in very distinct boxes with the 5150 in brilliant white, the 211 in red and 187 in rich black. We ordered the complete Police Line and should be getting it in soon so swing by and try them out.

They also have some other interesting blends including the Habano I smoked as my first cigar of the day. I wanted a lighter medium bodied cigar that had a nice flavor profile. The Habano was just that. Maybe a little more to a full medium than I initially wanted but it turns out this was the perfect stick first thing in the day. One thing the Esteban Carreras cigars do very well is bring a tone of flavor to the game. Not subtle hints but not in your face overpowering flavor but good solid flavor through the entire length of the stick. You can't refer to their cigars as one dimensional

A new Cigar by them is the Covenant and my favorite name of the whole show the Chupacabra. I didn't get a chance to smoke either of these yet but they are going to be one of the first samples I dig into. As explained by Craig Cunningham the owner of Esteban Carrera the Covenent is a solid medium smoke while the Chupacabra is more of a complex full bodied. I'm excited about both. Even though my time playing Halo has made me hate the Covenent

Next up Cigar Family makers of Fuente, Diamond Crown and many others

The biggest name in cigars is Artuo Fuente. They have some of the best cigars available in the world and a huge and loyal fan base and I consider myself among  a loyal fan. They don't have that much knew this year but one cigar that caught our eye was the JC Newman Perla Del Mar. We didn't try this one yet but it looked so tasty and has such a great name behind it we took the plunge and bought some. Going a little bit out on a limb but with the J.C. Newman and Fuente name behind it there isn't much of a risk.

We also continued the trend of buying some great gift packs the Cigar Makers are putting together. I really like Brick House Cigars and the gift pack looked way too cool to pass up. It is a fantastic looking ashtray and 3 Brick House Cigars in a bundle. We also bought several of the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation gift packs. The proceeds from this go directly to the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation to help children in the Cigar Producing area of the Dominican republic. This was created by Carlito Fuente to give back to the country he loves.

Then over to another exciting maker  Torano Cigars

We have carried Torano for a while and it has done well with lots of customers really liking this cigar. We wanted to see what was new and exciting to bring to OCL. We were not disappointed and there are a several new blends and most exciting we had a long conversation with Charlie and Carlos Torano (Carlos junior not Senior).

But first some of the exciting new blends and shapes. The 50 year has a new Figarado shape that looks awesome. If you haven't ever smoked a Figarado they taper at both ends and are very hard to make. But I found out not the hardest cigar to make but more on that later.

They also have a new Master Maduro to complement the Master blend which rocks. And the Salutem a tribute to one of the Torano employees that fought through a tough illness and personally asked Charlie if he could make his own blend now that he is back. How can you say no. It is another cigar I didn't taste but according to Charlie Torano this is a solid cigar.

Conversation with Charli Torano
John and I had a long conversation with Chralie. One of our customers, I think it was Anthony Ramos, wanted to know more about what blenders are looking for and what they smoke personally. So we had a little side conversation. The questions and answers are paraphrased by me.
Q: What size of Cigar do they smoke?
A: Since time is limited they are often looking at a shorter duration to smoke than sitting down and relaxing with a long cigar. Charlie usually smokes a robusto size but if he can will try and get a longer cigar in if he can. Carlos likes a little longer cigar and will trends to a Toro size if he can.
Q: What do you usually smoke?
A: The Master Blend and new Master Blend Maduro are Charlies favorite but he makes sure to smoke everything he sells and also to try other manufacturers both that produce from the same region but also other areas to see what kind of flavor they are producing
Q: How do you go about blending a cigar? Do you just tell the factory roll some stuff or do you have specific flavors of particulare tobaccos in mind?
A: Blending is more of an art than a science. Although there is a little science involved by understanding what flavors a particular farm produces and what flavors each part of the plant produce. But you will find that one farm in a region will have subtle differences from another farm just accross the road in the exact same region with the same weather and soil. It is also knowing what tobacco is available so you can produce a consistent product for as long as you produce the product. Buying only a years supply will result in either abandoning that particular blend or having inconsistencies year to year.
Q: Is the Figarado the hardest cigar shape to make?
A: No, the Lancero is. They are very thin and the amount of wrapper to filler and binder is much smaller than other cigars. You have less room to make mistakes. The Figarado and Torpedo are difficult but the Lancero is the most difficult to make by far and you find the most experienced rollers doing these shapes. (Personal Opinion: Therefore the best constructed cigars are going to be Lanceros)
I want to give a huge thanks to Charlie and Carlos for taking time out of their busy day to talk to two dudes from a brand new cigar store in Fremont CA.

We then wandered the show floor talking to several different vendors.
Not much to report. We did go back to Drew Estates. The only thing new is the Liga Privada Papa Fritas. They have real production limits on how much Liga Privada they sell and only a few stores can carry the product. When we asked Jonathan about this he said it is "a huge pain in my ass" because everybody wants it and only a few can get it. Once we sat down and compared what we have as facings with Drew Estate (the cigars we sell) and what they have as an offering there was very little to add. We already have a very good selection of Drew Estate products available. We did order more Baitfish which is from the My Uzi Weighs a Ton (MUWAT) line. We introduced this to the West Coast at the Drew Estates Event two weeks ago and it was an instant hit. Not only with customers but myself as well. Having a quick 1/2 hour cigar with a ton of flavor has turned me on to this size of cigar. We added a couple of other cigar makers 4 x 44ish size cigars to our inventory.

Another vendor we very much wanted to see was Xikar.
They make some of the best cigar accessories in the industry and their lifetime warranty can't be beat. If you buy a Xikar it is the last product you will ever need to buy. If it breaks, bring it in to any retailer that carries Xikar and they will open the case and give you a brand new one off the shelf if you have it. Even if they didn't sell it to you. If they don't have it in stock they may need to order it but will do so right away for you and you should get it in a week or two. They have some new accessories out and we signed up for a custom Ohlone Cigar Lounge cutters and travel humidors. Look for them in several weeks.

There were distractions at the show. While we may not be into the hooka thing it is something people, including myself, enjoy from time to time. The hooka booths were crazy and I had a great hooka and shot pairing

 








Thats it for today. Only a 1/2 day tomorrow and I can't promise I'll get anything out.

Thanks