The 2008 Trade Show Recap, most likely part one…

7/16/08

With something close to 100,000 square feet of show space with 1700 different exhibitors, and retailers from all over the country, our annual trade show is done. Boy, what a weekend!  There’s a lot of great stuff coming out the rest of the year, let’s take a peek:

Ashton: With the success of the San Cristobal line last year, Ashton has decided to have Pepin Garcia create another cigar for them. This time, it’s a line extension, rather than a new flagship brand.  La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial. The picture of the band is below, simply because I wanted to smoke it, rather than take a picture (sorry). Trust me; it’s a good looking cigar…

It’s definitely a Pepin cigar; however it ends up more full-bodied than strong, if that makes sense. I think it’s his smoothest and creamiest cigar so far, with just enough spice on the finish. The Ashton boys are still trying to work out the details of this, but have assured us that Shades will get the first shipment of these and probably the first launch party in November, as well! Yes, this means that Manny “The Animal” Ferraro will be back in Peoria this fall, terrorizing all of you!

Oh, I also saw the new ESG 22 Year Salute. Big damn torpedo. At least a 55 ring gauge. Just on Display though, they didn’t have any to smoke…yet…

I was going to try to do this blog alphabetically, but I need to skip to La Flor Dominicana for a few minutes.

This cigar is part of the new Perfecto Sampler Litto came out with. The 5 cigars included are all this size and shape, with a Ligero, Double Ligero and Coronado, as well as 2 unbanded sticks. Litto Gomez, God Bless Him, won’t tell what the blend is on these; to anyone, including the people that work for him.  The wrapper is slightly darker than the Coronado, but it could still be a Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper, and I’m pretty sure everything else is ligero priming’s, because this cigar is kicking my ass. 

It’s a beautifully constructed cigar, very toothy wrapper. It’s just kicking my ass.

LFD is also coming out with a 6 pack. Called Carajos, it contains 6 little (4” x 38 RG) Ligero Oscuro Naturals.  I jokingly refer to them as Oscuro 150’s.

Factory Press is back as well this year. This year’s smoke is a 58 ring gauge and a Connecticut Broadleaf Wrapper, similar to the original Factory Press. The unfortunate thing is that there are only 300 boxes being produced this year, making this year’s Factory Press incredibly limited. We’ll let you know when they arrive, trust us!

Alright, back on track (hopefully, because, yes, the perfecto is still kicking my ass):

Camacho:

As you all know, Christian Eiroa and Camacho Cigars holds a special place in our heart and humidor. Have we got some stuff to talk about!

10^th Anniversary Corojo. This slightly box pressed smoke isn’t your typical Corojo.  While the typical strength and spice is there, this is probably the smoothest and creamiest Authentic Corojo I’ve smoked.

2008 Liberty. Oh yeah, it’s back! The barber pole 11/18 that was last year’s hit has been only slightly modified; it’s now box pressed!

Limited Harvest. It’s a new seed strain for Camacho, slightly less punch, and incredibly, incredibly limited production. Don’t know when We’ll get them and don’t know how long they’ll be made…

There is a ton more to talk about, but right now, I need to finish this LFD and go lay down…

More soon!

Eric

One word: Wow!

Shades of Havana hosted its first dinner of 2008 on Sunday, June 1^st. The goal was simple; good food, good cigars and a whole lot of fun. Let’s just say it turned out better than expected. Chef Paul Hodo from Tucson came up with an amazing menu; from the first course of sea scallops the final dollop of almond mouse, the food was paired exceptionally well, not only with the wines, but also the cigars we smoked. 

And talk about cigars! For the first course, our cigar was a Tatuaje Havana VI Angeles. The smallest of the Havana line admirably makes up for the lack of ring gauge with loads of flavor and spice.

We followed the next course with another Havana VI, this time the Corona Gorda sized Hermosos. It was the perfect cigar in body and size to follow up the medium rare sirloin medallions, grilled asparagus and fingerling potatoes.

Dessert, what to say about dessert? To call it a simple almond mousse is a disservice. Light, not too rich, garnished with burnt almonds and dark chocolate wafers broken into the mouse before serving…

 The smokiness of the burnt almonds and the richness of the dark chocolate paired well with the Illusione 888, or “Necessary and Sufficient”, as the side of the box says. This small production Nicaraguan puro by Fumare Cigars is outstanding, as are the rest of their sizes.

As I said before, “Wow!” and I’m betting the next dinner in August is only going to be better….

09/05/07 10:02 am  Eric

So it goes without saying that the San Cristobal Launch was a HUGE Success! Well received by you (kind of the most important vote, if you get my drift…), and much appreciated by Mike Watman and Manny Ferrero.  Congratulations to everyone who won a raffle prize.

Now, in the past week since the event, I’ve had a chance to only smoke a few San Cristobal, typically the Supremo (Toro size). On Sunday, I smoked one outside at a pool/birthday party (as an aside, can I just say how nice it is to be able to smoke in my own home, with air conditioning!), cigar was great, but I truly felt the weather changed the flavor profile….

Second cigar was yesterday; I popped into the store to do some organizing, and decided to reward myself with one. Again, it was the Supremo and damn, was it bold! Huge amount of pepper throughout the cigar, all I can say is I’m glad I had a soda next to me….