Room101 Hit & Run Redux Robusto (5 x 50)

Video review HERE.

(Description provided by Forged Cigar Co.)

The redux of Room101 Hit & Run Redux new blend is created by the dynamic duo of Matt Booth and Robert Caldwell.

Matt Booth said, “I’m thrilled to bring another Room101 sub-brand back to life with this expression of Hit & Run. The brand was born of a collaborative seed between myself and Robert Caldwell. It’s about our creative process as much as it is about two-like minded psychopaths who’ve stuck together over the years. This cigar is the physical and combustible manifestation of an intergalactic connection which proves that an authentic friend and a good cigar can help more than you may imagine.”

The blend is made with a Mexican San Andres wrapper, an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and a blend of Nicaraguan C-98 and Pennsylvania filler with an added layer of Nicaraguan leaf. Matt Booth describes the experience as being “sophisticated with depth and transition,” and notes that it “blends power with balance.” He says Hit & Run “pairs well with your favorite memory of the DMV.”

The line is crafted at William Ventura in Tamboril, DR, where four frontmarks have been made:

Available vitolas:

Robusto (5” x 50); SRP per cigar $12.99 (REVIEWED TODAY)

Toro (6” x 50); SPR per cigar $13.29

Gordo (6” x 60); SPR per cigar $14.39

Perfecto (5.12 x 60); SRP per cigar $16.99

The Robusto, Toro and Gordo come in 20-count boxes, while the Perfecto comes in a ten-count box. All Room101 Hit & Run packaging features colorful Room101 branding.

Room101 is distributed by Forged Cigar Company.

The cigar is dark brown and has an average feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, peach, brown sugar, and dark chocolate. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2 to 8. Nice start.

At the first third (18 minutes) the notes were the same. The percentages are also the same. The black pepper remains very good. You have really nice citrus/peach/brown sugar notes, dark chocolate, and black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is peach and dark chocolate with very good lingering black pepper. I rated the first third 94.

Moving through the second third (41 minutes) I had a little less sweetness and a little more dark chocolate. Same notes but the percentages of each have changed. The cigar is still medium bodied. The finish is primarily dark chocolate with a little peach and very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is still good just a little darker. I rated the second third 93.

The cigar lasted 56 minutes. The dark chocolate kept slowly increasing with the sweeter notes decreasing. You still get all the notes but the dark chocolate is the lead player. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is unchanged. The dark chocolate slowly rises over the course of the cigar. Still, a pretty good cigar. I rated the final third 92.

Overall Score: 93

Filthy Hooligan Shamrock 2024 (6 x 50)

 

Video review HERE.

(Description provided by Alec Bradley)

Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock are now available, marking the twelfth and sixth release of the annual, limited edition take on the brand’s popular Black Market blend, respectively.

For 2024, 5,000 boxes of each blend will be released.

Bradley Rubin, brand ambassador for Alec Bradley cigars said, “Anticipation continues to build each year for the release of Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock. With their bright green wrappers and fresh herbal notes, these candela smokes offer a great change of pace at a time when spring’s on everyone’s mind. The blends have become part of the cigar community’s annual ritual and we’re pleased that we have once again been able to source the perfect aged candela wrapper to make this year’s release a reality.”

Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock are based on the popular Alec Bradley Black Market blend which has been tweaked to complement the multiple wrapper format.

Today we look at the Filthy Hooligan Shamrock.

Filthy Hooligan Shamrock is triple-wrapped with a Honduran Candela, Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro and a claro shade Nicaraguan Habano leaf, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, with Honduran and Panamanian filler.

Handcrafted at Tobacos de Oriente in Danli, Honduras, available exclusively in 6” x 50 toro format. Filthy Hooligan Shamrock comes in an attractive, 10-count gray box with a large shamrock on the lid. The cigars will sell for $15.09 apiece.

The cigar is nicely made and visually pleasing. It has a nice feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, citrus peel, brown sugar, and earthy black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 to 7 1/2. Decent start.

At the first third (30 minutes) I still had the citrus/citrus peel notes with more citrus peel than citrus, brown sugar, grassy, and a lot of earthy black coffee. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is citrus peel and brown sugar with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is not wowing me but it's not too bad. I rated the first third 89.

As I moved through the second third (58 minutes) the brown sugar is keeping the cigar afloat. There is light citrus/citrus peel, decent amount of brown sugar, and increased earthy black coffee. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is a little grassy, light citrus peel, light brown sugar, and good lingering black pepper. I rated the second third 88.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 19 minutes. The earthiness pulled back but the black coffee increased. At this point about all I had was brown sugar and black coffee. No citrus and only slight hints of citrus peel. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is brown sugar, touch of grass, and very good lingering black pepper. I held the score of 88 for the final third. I found this cigar to be a little better than the Filthy Hooligan but neither impressed me.

Overall Score: 88.33

Filthy Hooligan 2024 (6 x 50)

Video review HERE.

(Description provided by Alec Bradley)

Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock are now available, marking the twelfth and sixth release of the annual, limited edition take on the brand’s popular Black Market blend, respectively.

For 2024, 5,000 boxes of each blend will be released.

Bradley Rubin, brand ambassador for Alec Bradley cigars said, “Anticipation continues to build each year for the release of Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock. With their bright green wrappers and fresh herbal notes, these candela smokes offer a great change of pace at a time when spring’s on everyone’s mind. The blends have become part of the cigar community’s annual ritual and we’re pleased that we have once again been able to source the perfect aged candela wrapper to make this year’s release a reality.”

Filthy Hooligan and Filthy Hooligan Shamrock are based on the popular Alec Bradley Black Market blend which has been tweaked to complement the multiple wrapper format.

Today we look at the Filthy Hooligan.

Filthy Hooligan features a Honduran Candela and Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro barber pole wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, with Honduran and Panamanian filler.

Handcrafted at Tobacos de Oriente in Danli, Honduras, both blends are available exclusively in a 6” x 50 toro format. Filthy Hooligan is presented in a handsome green and black striped box containing 24 cigars, which will sell for an MSRP of $12.69 per cigar.

The cigar is nicely made and has a nice feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good with a touch of firmness. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, apple, lime, a little brown sugar, and a lot of dark chocolate fudge. There was black pepper rated at 7 to 7 1/2. 

At the first third (27 minutes) the flavors have boiled down into lime, light brown sugar, and a lot of dark chocolate fudge. The finish is lime and some of the fudge with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied. The lime with dark chocolate fudge is not wowing me. I rated the first third 89.

As I moved through the second third (58 minutes) the notes were a little lime and brown sugar, quite a bit of earthiness, dark chocolate, and black coffee. The cigar got a lot darker. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is lime with a little underlying dark chocolate fudge with average lingering black pepper. The entrance of multiple dark/earthy notes hurt the cigar. I rated the second third 86.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 23 minutes. The cigar stayed very much the same in the final third. It's still medium bodied. The finish is unchanged. The notes just don't work for me. I held 86 for the final third. The cigar is a beauty to look at but not very flavorful. 

Overall Score: 87 

Alec Bradley Uncut Series Taps EverNorth Spirits for Coveted Single Barrel Pairing

 

Alec Bradley will release an exceptional Uncut Series pairing in partnership with EverNorth Spirits. The single barrel and cigar pairing will launch on April 22 when 126 collectible sets will be available for sale exclusively on Bourbon Outfitters.

The one-of-a-kind pairing represents the fourth iteration of the Uncut Series and is “expected to sell out shortly after its release” at 10:00 AM Eastern according to a spokesperson for the respected online bourbon retailer.

Alec Rubin, Alec Bradley’s brand manager of strategic partnerships said, “This single barrel pick shows how we’ve come full circle with Dan Shook and Sean Paisley, also known as Bourbon Junkies. We were their first sponsor and have been amazed to watch their popularity skyrocket. Now that they’ve come out with their own bourbon under the EverNorth Spirits brand, we wanted to support their new venture in a big way. So we set out to find a whiskey that would stand up to Alec Bradley Fine & Rare and we knew that would not be easy. Dan and Sean are big cigar guys it was great to have their thought process come into play. Together we picked the ideal whiskey for the pairing. Our only wish was that it wasn’t so limited because the pairing is that good.”

Alec Rubin and Bradley Rubin who serves as brand ambassador for the Alec Bradley cigar brand, tasted through 23 barrels of EverNorth Essence Bourbon before ultimately deciding on their pick for this Uncut Series release. Crafted by MPG, the seven-and-a-half-year-old light bourbon (131 proof/65.5% ABV) they selected is made of 99% corn and 1% malted barley and was distilled by MGP in Indiana. It was aged there for seven years before being moved to Michigan where it rested for an additional six months in a warm, conditioned environment to maintain continuous barrel interaction. Bottled at cask strength to preserve the integrity of the spirit, EverNorth Essence is heavy on complexity with notes of orange zest, caramel, cinnamon and oak. When met with the honey, nutmeg and hazelnut nuances and earthy, woody notes of Alec Bradley Fine & Rare BCN 143, the pairing becomes a moving sensory experience.

Dan Shook, co-founder of EverNorth Spirits said, “Working on this project with Alec and Bradley was every cigar and bourbon lover’s dream. Developing a single barrel pairing for the newest iteration of Fine & Rare gave us the opportunity to really flex our palates, and it made us appreciate the beauty of EverNorth whiskey on a deeper level. This collaboration goes to show you how a great cigar and a great bourbon can elevate one another to make totally new experience and we’re proud to put our name on this.”

Each Alec Bradley EverNorth Uncut Series pairing contains one 750 mL bottle of EverNorth Essence and two Alec Bradley Fine & Rare BCN-143 (7” x 50) cigars and will sell for a suggested retail price of $99.99. Released in limited quantity in 2023, the box-pressed Toro cigars are made with a masterful medium-bodied blend that contains ten unique tobacco varietals. This includes a Honduran Trojes Criollo 98 wrapper from the La Vega Coyol Farm in Honduras, a double binder comprised of Honduran Trojes Criollo 98 and Nicaraguan Esteli Criollo, and these filler tobaccos: Honduran Jamastran Criollo 98, Nicaraguan Jalapa Criollo 98, Honduran Trojes Criollo 98, Honduran Jamastran Criollo 98, Honduran Trojes Corojo 99, Honduran Jamastran Corojo and Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99, all.

Interested buyers can purchase via the following URL: https://bourbonoutfitter.com/collections/alec-bradley

NOW SHIPPING! THE LIMITED EDITION AVO EXPRESSIONS 2024: A COLLABORATION WITH WORLD-RENOWNED DJ D-NICE

Avo Cigars, a leader in hand-made premium cigars announces that the “Avo Expressions 2024” Is now shipping. This highly anticipated blend is a collaboration with world-renowned DJ D-NICE. Only 6,900 boxes containing fifteen cigars were created of this exclusive brand.

The Avo Expressions line of cigars was created with the purpose of collaborating with individuals who are true experts in their craft, following in the footsteps of the late Avo Uvezian, the founder of AVO Cigars. Avo Uvezian was a musician and composer, who later in life skillfully channeled his musical genius into the creation of cigars that reflected his creative talents.

The AVO Expressions 2024 draws artistic inspiration from DJ-Nice’s dynamic world of mixing music, through disc jockeying (DJing), echoing the DJ's skill by crafting a captivating and stimulating journey, with AVO's expertise in blending and rolling. To capture the innovative spirit of DJ D-Nice's artistic creation, AVO has added a Bourbon cask aged filler tobacco, to enrich the blend with delightful caramel notes. The toro's pigtail concludes the harmonious experience and highlights AVO's elevated level of craftsmanship.

Taste experience.

The taste journey of the 50 RG toro cigar begins with a harmony of sweet cream and cedar wood, then transitions into a rich blend of coffee and spice, concluding with a smooth trio of caramel, buttercream, and roasted coffee. Just as a DJ curates an evening of music, AVO Expressions has been blended to take aficionados on a comparable journey of taste, evolving elegantly from one note to the next.

Wrapper: Ecuador

Binder: Mexico

Filler: Dominican Republic & United States

The AVO Expressions cigars are housed in elegant wooden boxes, engraved with motifs inspired by the artistry of DJing. These unique boxes reflect the creativity and rhythm that parallels the DJ's craft and are limited to 6,900 boxes, each containing fifteen toro cigars.

Click image to view video:

J.C. Newman Opens a Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge at Corona Cigar Co. Tampa

Last night, J.C. Newman Cigar Co. and Corona Cigar Co. opened a new Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge at Corona’s Tampa cigar store at a grand opening celebration attended by 250 people, including local politicians and local celebrities. This is the 36th Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge currently open in the United States.  This new Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge is also the second one at a Corona store; the Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge at Corona’s downtown Orlando store opened in 2008.

Florida Representatives Susan Valdés and Dianne Hart joined the Newman and Borysiewicz families at the grand opening.

“We are so proud to have a Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge in our hometown,” said Eric Newman. “Because Tampa is ‘Cigar City,’ it is important to us that cigar enthusiasts have a first-class location to enjoy luxury cigars like Diamond Crown.”

J.C. Newman opened the first Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge in 2007 as a response to the proliferation of smoking bans across the United States. During the past 17 years, three dozen Diamond Crown Cigar Lounges, from New York to Washington state, have become havens for cigar aficionados to light up fine cigars.

“My family and I have been friends with the Newmans for more than 20 years,” said Jeff Borysiewicz. “I fondly remember when Stanford Newman gave me my first Diamond Crown cigar. It was an outstanding luxury cigar then, and it remains an outstanding luxury cigar today.”

The Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge at Corona Cigar Co. Tampa store features a private room that overlooks the retail store. Inside are rare selections of Diamond Crown Classic, Diamond Crown MAXIMUS, Diamond Crown Julius Caeser, and Diamond Crown Black Diamond cigars along with The American, Angel Cuesta, and LeRoy Neiman Collectors Edition.  Later this year, J.C. Newman and Corona will unveil Diamond Crown Tampa, a new cigar rolled with Borysiewicz’s Florida Sun Grown tobaccos.

For a list of all 36 Diamond Crown cigar lounges, please visit jcnewman.com.

J.C. Newman on Discovery Channel’s Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America

A new episode of the Discovery Channel show, Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America, profiles J.C. Newman’s restoration of the Sanchez y Haya Real Estate Company building in Tampa’s Ybor City historic cigar district.  The episode can be streamed for free here (J.C. Newman’s segment begins at 22:30).

A few months after J.C. Newman’s iconic El Reloj cigar factory opened in 1910, Sanchez y Haya constructed a two-story building across the street to serve the factory and its cigar workers, visitors, and neighbors. A century ago, the second floor was a small hotel, and a restaurant and bar were on the first floor. In the years that followed, the building was home to a grocery store, distillery, brewery, speakeasy during Prohibition, and lots of criminal activity. Sadly, the building has been abandoned and neglected for decades.

J.C. Newman is in the midst of restoring the Sanchez y Haya building. When the project is complete in two years, the building will look and feel like it did in 1910, with a small hotel on the second floor and a café and cigar lounge on the first floor. This project is part of the Newman Family’s efforts to expand the El Reloj District, which has become the premier destination for cigar tourism.

Paper Crane Corona Gorda by Black Works Studio (5 x 46 Box Pressed)

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Cigar-coop.com website)

At the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, Oveja Negra Brands introduced the Black Works Studio Paper Crane. Paper Crane is a small batch release produced out of Fabrica Oveja Negra in Estelí, Nicaragua. Plans are for Paper Crane to ship to retailers by the end of the month.

The Black Works Studio Paper Crane is highlighted by a Connecticut Florado wrapper. The remainder of the blend consists of an Ecuadorian Habano binder and fillers from Nicaragua. The line is offered in a Corona Gorda box-press and Toro box-press. Each size is packaged in 20-count boxes. Pricing is set to $11.00 and $12.00 MSRP for the Corona Gorda and Toro, respectively.

“The Paper Crane is a project I’ve been thinking about for several years.  I’ve always wanted to do something with Connecticut Florado wrapper.  I love the flavor profile of this wrapper and of course its unique beautiful golden pink color.  This cigar is extremely complex with a beautiful balance of light citrus notes on the palette, followed by delicate layers of spice on the retrohale and finish.  It was these flavors that inspired the name and the artwork I created.  Even though there are a lot of subtleties, it is still a full flavor medium strength cigar that lives up to what you expect from a BLK WKS cigar,” says James Brown, creator of Black Works Studio and partner at Fabrica Oveja Negra.

Blend and Origin

Wrapper: Connecticut Florado

Binder: Ecuador Habano

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Factory: Fabrica Oveja Negra

Vitolas Offered

Corona Gorda Box Press: 5 x 46 ($11.00 MSRP/cigar) REVIEWED TODAY

Toro Box Press: 6 x 48 ($12.00 MSRP/cigar)

The cigar is golden brown and has a light feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, light toffee, and black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 8 1/2. Very nice start.

At the first third (16 minutes) the notes are just like they started. The black pepper is so very nice. It's a dry, table type black pepper and it's intense. The cigar is very sweet. The toffee is coming through nicely. The black coffee makes a nice base but it's not intrusive. You will not notice much of the coffee but you will definitely notice the sweet notes and pepper. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is faint apple with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is very tasty. I rated the first third 95.

As I moved through the second third (36 minutes) the notes were primarily the same. There is a touch of earthiness but it's not a bad thing. It actually works very well with the elevated black pepper. The toffee notes are nice. The citrus/apple with brown sugar is very nice. The cinnamon is really coming out too. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is black coffee with very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is still excellent. I held 95 for the second third.

The cigar lasted 54 minutes. The final third was just like the second third. The same notes were there. The cigar is medium bodied, slightly leaning toward medium to full. The finish is unchanged. This is one of the best Connecticut cigars I've every had. The sweet notes combined with the massive amount of black pepper are great. I held the score of 95 for the final third. Look for these. You won't be disappointed.

Overall Score: 95

Tampa Bay Times: This Tampa cigar factory is now the last operational one in the country

Since 2009, J.C. Newman Cigar Co. has been Tampa’s last operational cigar factory.

Recently, the 129-year-old business located inside Ybor City’s El Regensburg Cigar Factory learned they have an even more notable distinction.

They now run the last operational cigar factory in the nation.

Throughout the country, there still exist small operations, like the storefront businesses rolling cigars along Ybor’s Seventh Avenue.

“However, these are essentially tourist stops, a cigar retailer with a couple of rollers, very different from (ours), which rolls 60,000 cigars per day,” said Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner and general counsel of the company. “I find this rather sad. Cigars have been an integral part of the American economy since the first tobacco crop was planted in the Virginia Colony in 1612.”

He said the distinction comes with added pressure to keep the history of the cigar factory industry alive, which is why his family offers tours of their building at 2701 N. 16th St.

“There’s nowhere else in the country you can go to see this tradition that has been an important part of our country for hundreds of years,” he said.

And it’s why Newman has spearheaded a chamber of commerce of sorts for the owners of Tampa’s remaining 25 cigar factories, with the others being or already repurposed as office space, retail and housing.

Named the Cigar Manufacturers Association of Tampa after the organization that once represented the owners of the factories when they all still rolled cigars, its purpose today is to provide a network of restoration services to each of the building’s owners.

At the inaugural meeting last month, 15 of the buildings were represented, including the Lozano Cigar Factory, which is now home to the Lions Eye Institute, the Y. Pendas y Alvarez Cigar Factory, which is being converted into a winery, and the Bustillo Brothers & Diaz Cigar Factory, which will soon be student housing.

“Cigar factories here in Tampa are iconic, but they’re also really difficult buildings,” Newman said. “They’re old. They need lots of maintenance, lots of loving care. I want everyone to share their knowledge so we can all help each other preserve these beautiful buildings.”

At its peak in the 1920s, when it was known as the cigar capital of the world for rolling more per year than any other city, Tampa boasted over 200 operational factories, mostly in Ybor and West Tampa.

Yeny Hernandez tears apart tobacco leaves at J.C. Newman Cigar Co. on July 5, 2022, in Tampa. [ LAUREN WITTE | Times ]

Julius C. Newman established his company in Cleveland in 1895. To be closer to Cuba, which back then could still ship tobacco to the United States, the family relocated the business to Tampa in 1954.

Nearly all of the city’s factories shuttered due to the Cuban embargo, the popularity of cigarettes and other economic factors. Most of the factory buildings were then lost to a mix of urban renewal, interstate construction and fires.

For decades, J.C. Newman Co. and Hav-a-Tampa were the final two factories rolling cigars in Tampa. But Hav-a-Tampa shut down their local production plant in 2009.

Since then, according to Newman, Finck Cigar Co. closed its Texas factory in 2014, National Cigar Co. shut down its Kentucky factory in 2015, FX Smith’s Sons shuttered its Pennsylvania factory in 2017 and Swisher International stopped rolling cigars at its Jacksonville factory in 2018.

Upon recently learning that Parodi/Avanti Cigar Co. moved rolling operations from a Pennsylvania factory to the Dominican Republic in 2022, Newman proclaimed his family’s factory as the last where cigars are still rolled in the country.

“It reaffirms what we’re trying to do, which is we’re still rolling cigars today, just like we did 100 years ago,” Newman said. “We want to keep that tradition alive for another 100 years in large part because if we don’t … there’s nobody else left to do it.”