3rd Annual Pork ‘n Puff Announcement

From my friends at Empire Cigars:

Please be our guest…The 2011 Pork n Puff is set!!! Saturday September 10^th we will be hosting Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars for our yearly pig blowout. There is no greater celebrity in the cigar industry than Pete and we are extremely lucky to have him. This year we will be roasting 2 pigs since we are expecting a very large crowd. Both Walt and Rich will be crafting beer for the occasion, so get ready to party.

Sincerely,

Hal Rubin

More information will be out soon and I will update this as we learn of the time.

As is the tradition at the Pork n Puff, all box purchases will earn you a ticket into the drawing for a 42″ flat screen TV, an IPad 2 and my 2000 Millennium Opus X Humidor ($5,000 value). Pete is sure to bring lots of cool swag as well as some great smokes you can only get at his events.

Join us afterwards! – Following the Pork n Puff pig roasting, we will be having an after party with our new friend and partner at Amra’s downtown. For those of you who haven’t been there, you’re in for a treat. Dave Mellin is a great guy and really knows how to host a party.

Lots more details will follow (time, deals, etc) but I wanted to give you lots of advance notice so you can save the date.

Save the Date
September 10, 2011
Time – Noon – 5pm

After Party at Amras

5-Until

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Tatuaje Anarchy

Size: 6” x 54

Vitola: Perfecto

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: a week

This is one heck of popular cigar… and it’s not even released yet. The Tatuaje Anarchy is a special Limited Edition cigar that is a collaboration between Pete Johnson, Pepin Garcia and the Abe “Ming” Dababneh at Smoke Inns in the Palm Beach area. It features an all new blend and is one of the most interesting looking cigars I have seen in a long time.

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Tatuaje Espirit de Verite 2008

Size: 5” x 50

Vitola: Robusto

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Criollo

Origin: Nicaraguan, single farm origin

Age: 2 years

I got the chance to smoke the new Espirit de Verite from the crazed mind of Pete Johnson creator of Tatuaje, Cabaiguan and El Triunfador cigars.  This project, from what I understand, is a labor of love and something Pete has heavily invested his time in.  The idea behind the Verite’s is to create a single cigar from a single vintage crop.  The 2008 Vintage is available in either a Churchill (as the Verite) and as a robusto (the Espirit de Verite).  All tobacco was harvested from Don Pepin’s farm in Nicaragua.

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Zen Limited Edition Cigar of the Year Poll

Now it really heats up!

Limited Edition cigars do not have the constraint of tobacco availability and the need for mass production when developing the bend.  it’s just the best cigar a manufacturer can make with the best tobacco on hand.  Price and availability did not factor in my picking of the Top LEs of 2009.  I also did not pick multiple cigars from the same line.

So without further ado, here’s the list as I see it:

Tatuaje Boris – better than the Frank, better than the Drac, this LE is one of Pete’s and Pepin’s best.

La Flor Dominicana El Museo – this really hard to find LE was made by Litto with the best wrapper out there right now, his Ecuadorian Habano wapper. This edged the Salamone only because it burned better.

Davidoff Seleccionne 702 Toro – so Davidoff only makes mild cigars, huh?  Try this and you will be blown away, the strongest and most flavorful Davidoff ever made.

Padron Anniversary No. 44 – only available at Padron events, this cigar is way better than the Family Reserve, in fact, its the best Padron ever made!

AVO Companero – rivaling the famous LE05, this special cigar is one of AVOs best.  And yes, AVO is technically owned by Davidoff, but it is a different brand…

Punch CRA Edition Toro – only available to members of the Cigar Rights of America, this limited Edition cigar was the best of the sampler and the best cigar General has ever made hands down.

Ok, so here’s the poll, write-ins are welcome and yes there are 6 cigars on the list instead of 5, but hey, I’ll let you guys decide!

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Tatuaje Monster Series The Frank – One Year Later

Size: 7 5/8″ x 49

Vitola: Double Corona

Wrapper: a frighteningly toothy Connecticut Broadleaf

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: just arose from its coffin

The Frank.  You may have heard of it.  The Frank (short for Frankenstein’s monster of course) is 1^st of a hopefully long line of Monster Series cigars released by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje fame for Halloween.  Thirteen evil cigars are stuffed into a blood-splattered coffin and were distributed to only 13 ghoulish retailers randomly selected from a drawing, 666 terrifying boxes total.  Empire Cigars was lucky enough to be one of the thirteen stores selected to carry the Frank.

The Frank is adorned with an eerie green band that separates it from all of the other Tatuaje lines.  The Frank is slightly box-pressed (very Frankenstein-y) and is long and big.  Pete has revealed (at Brothers of the Leaf) that the Frank is actually a Tatuaje Taino with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.

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Tatuaje Monster Series The Drac

Size: 6 3/4” x 52

Vitola: one bloody sharp Torpedo

Wrapper: a spooky Habano Maduro

Origin: Transylvania via Nicaragua

Age: Centuries, but pulled right outta the coffin!

The most sought out cigar for the Halloween season has risen from it’s coffin and come to terrorize the neighborhood!  The Drac, the second in the Tatuaje Monster Series, is a dangerous looking torpedo with an upside down band at the foot – which when flipped over to read the band, the cigar looks like a fang!

As I mentioned this is another limited cigar, with a few more available than last year’s Frank.  There are 1300 coffin’s available of 13 cigars each.  But these are really hard to find.

As I hold this cigar, I get an ominous feeling that this cigar is going to have a lot of bite!

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Tatuaje Monster “Out of Costume” Series Boris

Size: 7” x 49

Vitola: Churchill

Wrapper: Rosado Ecuadorian Sumatra

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: 2 months

This is a pretty popular cigar right now, it’s also pretty hard to find.  This is the first of the Monster “Out-of-Costume” Series from marketing mastermind Pete Johnson of Tatuaje cigars (Havana Cellars).  The “Out-of-Costume”  (OOC) series concept is to take the last year’s Monster Series cigar, put it in new packaging, sans coffin-shaped box, a name it as the actor who famously played the Monster.  So, since last year’s Monster was The Frank (after Frankenstein’s Monster), the first OOC will be called Boris – after Boris Karloff.  The Boris cigar is slightly shorter than The Frank, and has a different wrapper.  The Frank had a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper; the Boris has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper.  Of course these are super-duper limited; only 1000 boxes of 10 were made.

As an aside, I’d like to point out what my local owner did with the Monster Series this year.  Instead of selling boxes of Boris and Dracs to whom ever showed up first,  he broke them up into little samplers, giving many more people an opportunity to try a cool limited cigar.  Nice job, Hal!

So due to their limited availability, I could have squirreled it away only to peak at it and giggle with glee, but instead I just smoked it.  It is a cigar after all (plus I have a few more).

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Manufacturer’s Spotlight – Don Pepin Garcia

There is no one cigar maker more popular than Don “Pepin” Jose Garcia… or busier!   His tiny little shop in Little Havana has exploded into several factories in Nicaragua and more brand names and collaborations than you can shake a stick at.  He has almost single-handedly changed what comes to mind when consumers think of Nicaraguan cigars.  He has helped make the lancero and salamone popular and sought after sizes.  And full-bodied cigars?  The bar has been raised through the ceiling.

Pepin & Jaime

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Pepin Event at Empire Cigars

Last Friday we had the privilege of having one of the most popular figures in the cigar industry at Empire Cigars – Don Pepin Garcia!

Pepin showed up promptly at 3pm and the festivities began with Empanadas and Mojitos.  Our pal Hal Rubin, the owner, also splurged on a few bottles of Zaya, a 12-year old rum from Trinidad which was absolutely fantastic.

Dave preparing for the fun

There were great promotions that night, discount on boxes of DPG cigars and a free 5-pack with every box purchase.  Box purchases earned a ticket for the raffle which included a few pipe and baseball cigars and a few ashtrays as well.

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Pepin Garcia at Empire Cigars June 5th!!!

June 5th @ 5pm!!  This should be an awesome event!  I’ll be there taking pictures and trying to shmooze with the man behind Tatuaje, DPG, San Cristobal, Cabaiguan, Tabacos Baez, La Riqueza, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial and many others!  Be there or miss out on an oppurtunity to speak with a legend in the biz!  Check out the Empire Cigars website for maps and contact information.

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