IPCPR Day Two by Frank Seltzer
Have I mentioned how I hate Orlando? Right after I posted last night, our lovely hotel, the Doubletree at Seaworld apparently has a flaw with its door locking system. The result was while we were out of our NON smoking room, someone decided to relieve me of my laptop. After a police report, we had to bust our butts in Orlando bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to the Apple Store to buy a new laptop and change what passwords we could. That was a fun night.
As for the show, the first stop was at Altadis. I know JR will be bringing in some terrific new cigars from here.
In meeting with the Altadis people the first cigar of the day I was given was the Trinidad Paradox. This is an amazing cigar with terrific flavors. What Altadis says ”this is the most modern comes from the most traditional”. The Paradox uses a Criollo seed wrapper in San Andres with Dominican Piloto binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It will come in four sizes from a Robusato at 5″ x 54 up to a Churchill at a beefy 7″ x 57. The prices for these will run from $6.75 to $7.50.
Altadis has updated its look in the booth and in its selections. The Romeo by Romeo y Julieta came out in the late spring. The new Montecristo Epic will be coming in three sizes Churchill, Toro and Robusto. The blend is Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and aged Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The Montecristo is priced about where you expect from $13 to $15…But the packaging is eye catching.
In talking with Javier Estades — the general manager of Premium Cigars for the USA–his goal has been to open communication between the company and consumers and to develop blends and cigars that fit everyone’s taste. Make no mistake, Altadis still has its traditional lines which smokers have come to love, but it is adding to the portfolio with things like the Te Amo Revolution, the Vega Fina Fortaleza, a new H Upmann and the Romeo y Julieta Havoc. Says Estades, not only does Altadis want to deliver flavor from mild to bold, but more importantly the company wants to be sure every smoker appreciates the value of each cigar.
La Palina is the company that built CBS. William Paley founded the network as a way initially to sell his father’s La Palina cigars in Philadelphia. That was about 90 years ago. Fast forward to today and WIlliam’s son Bill restarted the brand with an eye to his heritage. At this year’s show the company launched two new lines the La Palina Classic made in the Dominican Republic with Brazilian wrapper over Ecuador binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The La Palina Maduro is Honduran made with the flavorful Mexican Maduro wrapper over double Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. The company also launched the KB2 which is 6″ x 40 powerhouse. The KB, which is called Kill Bill is so named because the original KB was a petit corona in the company’s El Diario line, but with its small ring gauge it delivered so much power, Bill Paley was floored by its strength. The KB2 is a longer version of the original.
Over at General Cigar, there were a lot of new products including the new Macanudo Vintage 2006. This Robusto or Toro comes with a Connecticut Shade wrapper from 2006 and the classy metal band, but from there it ends similarity with traditional Macanudos in that it steps up the strength a bit with a Connecticut Habano binder over fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua (including Ometepe) and the Dominican Republic. The suggested price is under $9.
I talked about the CAO concert cigar earlier this week and in tasting one today, I found it to be solidly medium bodied but with full flavors. Using an Ecuadoran Habano Rosado wrapper with Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers the Concert pays homage to CAO’s roots in Nashville and its music scene. Coming in 4 sizes it will run between $5.75 to $7.50.
Michael Giannini is a madman. He is always the Beau Brummell of any situation. This time he has come up with a couple of ideas that are over the top. The first is the La Gloria Cubana Trunk Show. When he worked for the brand’s father–Ernesto Perez Carrillo–he remembered Ernie would travel the country doing trunk shows, using special tobaccos that were available in small quantitates for special projects. Michael has brought that back with the La Gloria Trunk Show. This year he has the LR-1 which uses a Connecticut Habano wrapper over a secret binder and Nicaragua fillers and the YG-23 has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over the secret binder and Dominican and Nicarguan fillers. They are limited to 500 boxes of each blend and will retail for $8.95 to $9.45. But Michael’s main creation is the Foundry. This is a new boutique creation which is crafted in the Steampunk motif. Giannini loves DaVinci for example and thinks about what would happen if modern inventions were built in DaVinci’s era…that is Steampunk. Foundry has a secret blend that Michael says uses tobaccos from General’s library that had never been used before…and he will admit the tobacco does not come from Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua nor the Dominican Republic. The four sizes — Wells, Lovelace, Talbot and Cayley — will retail between $7.95 to $9.45. Each cigar comes adorned with a gear, which Giannini say you need to save for a later project.
Finally, the Tres Reynas debuted this afternoon at 4pm. This is the project of Janny Garcia from My Father and and Patricia and Raquel Quesada of MATASA and SAG Imports. The three have been fast friends since they first met several years ago. They all work in the cigar business– Raquel and Patricia at the MATASA factory in the Dominican Republic with their father Manuel Quesada– and Janny in Nicaragua at My Father Cigars (Don Pepin is her father). The idea was to create a limited edition cigar called the Three Queens, or Tres Reynas. The promotional materials say it is medum bodied, but after tasting it this afternoon, it is medium to full. The cigar uses Nicaraguan tobaccos wrapped in Connecticut Broadleaf. It will come in three sizes running from $7.50 to $8.25. The cigar is made in Nicaragua at the My Father factory but will be sold by the Quesadas. There are only 1000 boxes of each size.
This has been fun writing this without benefit of the word processing and photo programs on the old laptop and writing this on the web in Word Press. I apologize for any mistakes in advance. I think I am going to have a drink. More tomorrow.
