Musings of IPCPR

Going into IPCPR we had a plan. First, establish a relationship with the cigar manufacturers that we already have in stock. Our first cigars we bought were been through a local distributor JMG. They have been invaluable in helping us get up and running. From the initial cigars we needed to stock (based on what people want) to merchandising (displaying) the product. But you also want to make sure the manufacturers know you too. There are often special releases or support for events that you only get if you have a direct relationship.

One thing we expected to face but later than now is where to store everything. We have a lot of cigars in stock. From that initial stocking to today our inventory has almost doubled. All to keep up with the tastes of our customers. Its fun looking back to the picture of the humidors just after we first stocked them. So much empty space and no backstock of anything.

The next goal we had at IPCPR was to find new, cigars either from people we are already selling to the new great diamonds in the rough.

The last day was looking for those diamonds. One that is a very safe bet is Ortega Cigars. Eddie Ortega is a master blender that has made some great cigars in the past. 601 and Mercielago.  A few months ago he started his own company and we got to try a couple. They were fantastic. I can't wait until they come in.

Eddie was partners with Eric Espinoza before he split. The cigar

industry is small and everybody knows everybody and the sands are shifting all the time. Well Eric also spun up his own line Espinoza and again. we were wowed. Two very exciting new blends to look for.

Another vendor I've been chatting with for quite some time is Esteban Carreras. I like them just by the names on one of their lines. They have the 211, 5150 and 187. If your a cop or a criminal you know what these stand for. Anyway, cigars 

  

are great and they have a new one I'm really excited about the Chupacabara. I didn't get a chance to try this one but just based on the name and the legend I want one NOW. we won't get them in for a while yet. They are still making them so we have to wait a month or two.

Overall the show was awesome. We got a bunch of new cigars and accessories coming in.

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

IPCPR Day 2

Day 2 of IPCPR and another exciting day.

If you have an opinion on things we should be looking at there is another day and a half of show. Leave a comment and I will make sure we swing by and talk to them.

First stop was Altadis USA

They make a number of very popular cigar brands including Monte Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and a surprise to me Te Amo Cigars.  As we walked around the booth you notice two things. Romeo y Julieta has changed their brand and has cool new boxes but the same flavor as before and everything is very red.

We walked around and looked that the new stuff.  H. Upman has a new Sungrown blend, Omar Ortez a favorite of one of the regulars in the lounge has a new Puro Maduro, and Montecristo has a new Premium Selection that has each box signed by the roller personally. We haven't decided if we cary these yet.

Te Amo wwas the first Cigar we had of the day and we got to have a great conversation with the blender and roller Alejandro Turrent.  It was really a pleasure to speak with him and he had some great insights into the Te Amo cigar.  I must admit my eyes were opened up to Te Amo after this tasting.  We had the Te Amo Revolution and it was damn good smoke.  Maybe a little strong for a morning smoke but what the heck, we're at IPCPR.  One huge trend you see is a very large number of manufacturers using Mexican San Andres Valley tobacco.  Everybody seems to have a blend with some of this Mexican tobacco in it.  Te Amo has been in the San Andres Valley from day one and has some excellent blends.  It was also a very cool shape. An box pressed Oval. Burn was great and this was something like a 40 ring guage high by 60 wide which was very comfortable to smoke. Give them a try.

We had the Revolution and trust me this is a tasty cigar.  Although I wouldn't suggest lighting it up with your first cup of coffee.

As I said, Romeo y Julieta has redesigned their packaging to be something different and it does pop out. You won't see this on the shelves of your local retailer for a while but keep a look out for them.

Next stop and very much anticipated was Padron Family

Wow this brand and booth oozed class.  Jessica Padron who is stunningly beautiful. Padrons are our one of our best sellers and possibly my favorite cigar!  The booth oozed class and they have a very straightforward line that doesn't change year to year and is some of the best cigars in the industry.  If you have never had the Little Hammer or the 1926 Anniversary please do yourself a favor and try one

They had the whole line present including some a box of Special Release 80 Year Figarado's.  What a great looking cigar and I bet it tastes better than it looks!  I can't wait to get this shipment in.

Then we went over to Drew Estates

They are the polar opposite to Padron's class.  This is raw, fresh and in your face and one of the new class cigar brands. We wanted to meet them and schedule an appointment so we will have more tomorrow after we formally meet with them.  John and I did meet Jonathan Drew on thes show floor. I've had a couple of discussions with him on a different cigar forums including Reddit.  It was a great conversation and we ranged from what is happening in the cigar industry, how great our Drew Estate Event went last month and why we can't get Liga Privada. Both Reddit and Liga Privada availability struck a nerve and he had much to say about both.

Savinelli Pipes was the next destination

We carry pipes and pipe tobacco but probably not enough of either.  We wanted to see what some of the best pipes in the world are like and if this is something we should consider carrying in the lounge.  It was a great learning experience for both John and I.  First, the pipes are beautiful. They are hand made out of Heath tree briar found in the Mediterranean. This is the root ball of the tree where there is no specific wood grain but lots of different patterns to the grain. This gives the strength and durability needed for enjoying years of smoking. There are so many shapes and sizes to fit any particular smoker on any particular day. A seasoned pipe smoker will have dozens or more pipes in their collection. We also learned that Savinelli makes a line of premium cigars. We didn't try one today but brought home a couple of samples to try.

 

Next up Tabacalera Perdomo

They had some exciting new blends that we want decided to bring in. Both John and I tried one today and got a double thumbs up. the 20th Anniversary is particularly tasty. This one is going to be shipping soon so keep an eye out for it in a shop near you (hopefully Ohlone Cigar Lounge).

Then we meandered over to La Palina Cigars.

We just brought in La Polina into the Ohlone Cigar Lounge about 3 weeks ago. This is by far one of my favorite cigars I've ever smoked. The owner of La Palina Bill Paley. He traces his roots back to generations of cigar crafters. The family took a very different direction in the past and was the founder of CBS radio and what we know as the CBS empire today. Bill wanted to create a cigar as close to real Cuban premium brands as possible and this is the family blend. It isn't cheap but damn it is a great cigar and worth every penny. They have introduced the Kill Bill II to follow on to the Kill Bill I. When I asked Bill about the name he said one of the earliest samples of the cigar sucked so bad he couldn't even tolerate smoking the first full inch of it. They nicknamed this the Kill Bill line, got the right blend and a fantastic cigar was made that kept the original Kill Bill name. The Kill Bill II is a larger version of the Kill Bill I.  We both got the KB I to try and I'll report back on it a little later. I've had enough cigars for a day. Sorry about the picture quality on this one.

Final stop I'll blog about is My Father Cigars

Jaime Garcia is one of the best Cigar Blenders in the world and wanted to do a tribute cigar for his father and produced the My Father line. It is one of the best sellers in the store and has a very large following. When I want a cigar in the evening after a large meal I will often grab a My Father La Bijou.  An exciting new blend we recently brought in from My Father was the Flour de las Antilles. It is a solid medium bodied smoke with a ton of flavor and we have already had to re-order. We were one of the first stores to get in the area and consistent positive customer feedback has been great. There is also a new Jaime Garcia Limited Edition coming out. Haven't tried it yet either. Trust me, there is such a thing as too many cigars in a day. Simple math shows that a cigar every one and a half hours only gets you six or so sticks. Six cigars a day is a little more than most and by the afternoon your done on any tasting any distinct flavors. It's not unlike wine or whiskey tasting. After so many glasses they all start to blend together. But unlike a drink you can't taste, swish, taste some more and then spit out a cigar. A cigar morphs it's flavor over time. I've had cigars that started mild and about half way through really develop into a full bodied cigars or have a cigar that starts out harsh with a little too much pepper and spice but settle down to be a great smoke. You really need to smoke at least two thirds of a cigar to understand the flavors and textures it brings.

OK, I lied. We also stopped by Oliveros Cigars

They make the fantastic Aging Room Cigar which we had our last HERF Club event with. Great medium bodied smoke that builds about half way through to a more full bodied. The range in flavors is fantastic with this cigar and has been a hit in the store and with me. It currently holds the distinction of JR's pick. They have expanded the Aging Roomand added a slightly stronger at the beginning calling it the Quattro.

Please, I would appreciate any feedback on what you would like us to hung down.  If you have heard of some cigar that you want to know more about and see if it is worth smoking let us know.  Our ears are open.

IPCPR Day 1

We only opened a little over 3 months ago.  We had almost no retail experience and enjoyed smoking cigars but knew nothing about the business of selling cigars.  That didn't stop us from opening a kick ass Cigar Lounge in Fremont CA. 

Well, John and I went to International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) in Orlando Florida this year.  We were like kids in a Candy store.  If you can smoke it and it isn't rolled in paper it's at this show.  If it is something you use while smoking it's at the show.  Giant booths from Fuente or Rocky Patel to tiny Illusione Cigars and accessories from Lotus and Xikar.

First stop was Alec Bradley.

They have a couple of new Products. 

• American Sungrown
• Nico Puro
• New York (was only available to New York retailers and is now opened up)
• Connecticut

Some interesting stuff.  And, not thinking I didn't snap a lot of pics.  I do like their It's a Boy/Girl boxes a lot.  I think we are going to have to stock up on some of these

Next was Rocky Patel

Rocky as usual has some fine new blends out and some very cool accessories

I tried the Freedom by Rocky.  It is a solid, medium bodied but fully of flavor smoke.  This isn't available yet and has only been out in limited quantities for tasting and the show for about a month.  At first it was a little harsh with a strong peppery start.  But as it smoke it settled down a lot and was a great smoke.  I am going to definitely put this in my usual rotation of what I smoke.

This is an exciting new Cigar.  Rocky opened the Burn Lounge in Naples Florida.  He is now releasing these great cigars he hand blended for his lounge to everybody!  I haven't tried one yet (there has been a lot of smoking today trust me) but I'm looking forward to my first one.

John tried the Private Seller.  John being eloquent "I really like it".  It's a medium bodied cigar with a nice wide range of flavors.  It was only rolled a week ago so this was very young and it will do some great aging before it is released to everybody.  Keep a look out for this one and try a few when you get it.

Homerun slugger Gary Sheffield loves cigars and has been smoking them for a long time.  He became friends with Rocky and they collaborated on a cigar that Gary blended and picked out that fits his taste (how cool is that to work with Rocky to produce your own cigar).  Turns out they don't suck and now Gary and Rock are making them available to everybody.  I'm smoking one now and quite enjoy it.  Like the other new Rocky Patel blends a little aging is going to go a long way.  But this too is going into my list of cigars to keep going back to.

The box is very cool with a baseball covering and stripes on it.  This is probably one to save for the humidor and ambush Gary someday for an autograph.

Next up was Oliva

They have tweaked the Serie V Melanio this year and brought out the Malanio.  I already like the the Serie V. so I am looking forward to trying one of these. bad boys.  I can't wait until we get them in! 

There are also some cool gift packs of Nub that caught my eye.  I see these being a great gift of if somebody wants to get some NUBs and try them out a great way to do it and get a free cutter.

Final official stop was La Flor Dominicana

As always LFD had some exciting cigars that I love. 

Mysterio is one of the coolest looking cigars I've ever seen.  Either a Natural and Maduro wrapper version with either a Maduro or Natural tip.  In a Figarado I can't wait to light one of these up.

LFD also has a line of "Little Cigars".  To tell you the truth I wouldn't consider something like this three weeks ago.  I always thought of myself as a full bodied, big ring gauge, long cigar kind of guy.  Well, I'm coming to realize that 1, if I put myself in a bucket then I don't get to experience as much in life and 2, I'm not a full bodied, big ring gauge giant cigar guy.  Well at least not most of the time.  I like a medium bodied cigar more often than full bodied.  And at our recent Drew Estate event we introduced to the West Coast the new 4" x 44 ring gauge My Uzi Weighs a Ton, Baitfish. I fell in love with this cigar.  It has a medium strength but a ton of flavor and is something you can grab and go with and smoke in 30ish minutes or so.  I really enjoy sitting down for a nice long smoke but sometimes you don't get that or don't feel like that.  The Baitfish is a hit with me.  Now my eyes are opened to other small cigars with a ton of flavor and I think the LFD Maduro Small Cigar is going to work well for me.

It's almost 11:00PM in Orlando.  Done with smoking, done with drinking Johnnie Walker Double Black and I'm done with this blog. 

More tomorrow.

Thanks,

Cigars have an amazing ability to pull people together.

In my last post I talked about sending cigars to one of the guys over in Afghanistan that stopped by the lounge on leave. Well, one of the customers heard about this and wanted to contribute as well.  So, we set a box on the counter with a little sign.  All I can say is WOW!!!  In about 2 weeks we collected 221 cigars. And this wasn't dog turds people had hanging around their humidor. We had great cigars including Fuente Anejo, Liga Privada, Padron Anniversary, etc.  It was such a success we are going to this again in a couple of months.  Probably Veterans day November 11th.
I want to extend a special thanks to Colonel Garrett Yee.  He is the guy that came in on leave.  I asked him now to get these cigars in the hands of the fighters in the front line and he said "send them to me and don't worry about it". He has a bunch of friends that are commanders in line units that will make sure the front line guys get these sticks!

The most amazing thing about this is how much people wanted help.  Think about it, in 2 weeks we had greater than $1500.00 worth of cigars donated for guys on the other side of the world they will never get to see.  Just saying thanks for doing a hard job in a shitty place.

One thing I didn't expect was the diversity of our customers.  Smoking cigars is a social event.  Last night I paused and looked around a completely full lounge.  Also, it was also a very diverse crowd.  There were men and women, old and young and people from all over the world.  It was standing room only last night.  We have 19 seats in the lounge and all of them were taken and dudes were standing in the back of the lounge.  Front of the store was full as well and they pulled the chairs from outside in.

This is exactly what we envisioned. A great place to hang out and enjoy a great cigar with friends.

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted and I promised then to be more diligent. However reality intervened. I'm not travelling much for the next month so I will get these out every Friday I promise. It it is July 7th and this is the latest post send me an e-mail yelling at me jr@ohlonecigarlounge.com

 There is quite a lot to talk about. We had our Monthly HERF club event. A HERF is a group of BOTL and SOTL enjoying a nice premium cigar. Even before the lounge opened we did this as a group of friends. One of us would go out and buy a cigar for everybody, peel the label off and do a formal blind tasting. It is a really great way to enjoy a cigar. We brought that into the Ohlone Cigar Lounge and have about 30 people in the club. Everybody gets a tasting book for notes and we walk through the experience and talk about what we are all tasting. Our next event is July 11th. The cost is $15 per event or if you sign up for a year it is $150.00 for a year. You get 2 months free for signing up for the year.


 Another really cool thing happened with the lounge. We had Col Garrett Yee stop by the lounge to enjoy a cigar and give some advice to a fairly young marine about to be stationed in Afghanastan. We sent him a box of Cigars which he shared amoung the troops. Several customers saw this on Facebook and wanted to help out as well. We've collected almost 50 cigars heading to guys doing the hard work for us all.

We had an Oliva Cigars event. It was a fantastic time but unfortunatly I was out of town (Houston in late June isn't pleasant by the way). The next event on July 18th is a Double Shot event with Drew Estates and Joyo de Nicaragua. I'm super excited about this event!! And I get to be here for it! Both Drew Estates and Joyo de Nicaragua are great cigars

And to kick off July we are having an informal BBQ and Potluck at the lounge. For those who want a little peace and quite on the 4th we will have a BBQs out front where you can grill whatever you want to bring and if you want bring a side dish as well. There is a sign up sheet in the lounge if you want to coordinate what you bring as a side dish.

Final note: I met a buddy of mine I worked with 10 years ago in a local coffee shop. He hadn't smoke a cigar in years (before I met him). He stopped byt he lounge and now is a regular in several times a week. As he was leaving today he said "Thanks for opening this place". He really likes the relaxing nature of coming in, watching a game or just chilling out.