Cigars with a View by Frank Seltzer
View from the Top
Last night Alan Rubin of Alec Bradley was celebrating the release of his new cigars (Mundial which we wrote about yesterday) and the re-launch of the Nica Puro. The event was held in the penthouse of Phil Maloof…yup it was his home and he opened it to us on the 59th floor of the Palms Casino. (He has a Picasso over the fireplace, this really is his place.) The Penthouse was also where the Bradley team launched their weather baloon to send the Mundial into space.The Nica Puro is, as its name suggests a Nicaraguan Puro with extremely rich taste and balance. (The cigar was debuted last year, but Alan Rubin says the blend was great until it started to age, then got out of balance. He decided to change the blend and it came out this year.) Anyway, we had the chance to view Vegas from a unique perspective, all the while smoking either the Nica Puro, or the Tempus and the host, Phil Maloof, also provided us with one of his own personal cigars, the Maloof, which also is made by Alec Bradley. You gotta love a casino owner who is passionate about cigars which Phil certainly is.
Phil Maloof at Home
Back to earth
Christian Eiroa has been very busy with his cigar company incubator known as Tabacaleras Unidas ( of sometimes called Fabricas Unidas….FU for short). Under the parent company Christian personally is putting out the CLE lines like the Corojo, which is a Honduran puro. He also has his new Eiroa, the first time the family has put its name on a cigar. Under the FU operations, Christian has the Asylum line headed by Tom Lazuka. This cigar is made in Nicaragua and is a very affordable cigar. In sizes ranging from 4” x 44 to a 6” x 60. The more value brand from Lazuka is the Schizo which is adding a 7”x 70 size.
The factory also has the Edgar Hoill line, and the OSOK (One Shot One Kill) which was initially released as a Room 101 last year until Edgar joined Christian’s group. The Wynwood –which is named for the F-U Miami factory ( I love the F-U shorthand) has come out with an interesting new concept, the Wynwood fresh series. The idea is the cigars are rolled in Miami and then delivered within a couple of days to the store for sale. The group is fighting the tradition of cigars having to be aged for long periods by using aged tobaccos, but by keeping the moisture content the same throughout the tobaccos, eliminating any sick periods. The result is a fresh tasting cigar like you just picked it up off the rolling table.
Room 101
Speaking of Room 101, Matt Booth is adding his Master Collection and the HN which is the second core line to Room 101. The HN uses a Criollo 98 wrapper over Brazilian Mata Fina binder and Criollo and Navarrete fillers. The MSRP on these are about 6 bucks.
Padron
The Padron family always is slow to release anything new. They take their time. Over the years, they have added to the regular Pardon series, and the Anniversarios (1964) and the this year they have come up with a 4 pack of the 1926 Anniversarios. Included in the pack are sizes 1, 9, 2 and 6 naturally. They will be shipping soon ( and keep watching for them to show up here.)
Revelation
Earlier we told you about the new San Cristobal Revelation which is coming out of the My Father factory in Esteli. This newest San Cristobal is meant to fill out the line falling right in between the San Cristobal Elegancia with its Connecticut wrapper and the regular full strength San Cristobal with its oily Habano wrapper.
The Revelation uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and is a definite medium bodied smoke. It will come in 5 sizes with retail prices running from $6.95 to $9.50 for the Leviathan which measures 6.5” x 64.
The success of the Ashton small cigarss, is bringing out a new series of lighter small cigars called Senoritas this time with a lighter Connecticut wrapper for people who do not have time for a regular cigar and still want a lighter smoke.
Sam is back
Sam Leccia is back in the cigar business once more. (You remember he was originally behind Nub.)
Now he has come up with white and black label cigars. The White uses a sun grown Cameroon wrapper over an Ecuador Habana binder and a combination of Nicaraguan, Dominican, Brazilian and Pennsylvania fillers. The result is a very right smoke, His black label uses the Habano Ecuador leaf for the wrapper, with a Nicaraguan Rosado binder and uses similar filers as the white label except instead of Pennsylvania tobacco, he uses the Kentucky Fire cured.
It has been a very long day and I will have more to report later…not tonight I may actually be able to have dinner for the first time.
