As reported by several news sources Tuesday April 14, 2009 the Obama administration as lifted some travel restrictions to Cuba and will allow money transfers. The changes include allowing unlimited family visits and remittances, and expansion of humanitarian items that can be sent including clothing and fishing equipment.

 

Today at his regular news briefing White House press secretary announced President Obama is also allowing U.S. telecom companies to operate there, opening up the communist island nation to more cellular and satellite service.

 

But this does in no way change the embargo the U.S. has against Cuba.

 

This allows U.S. companies to be licensed for roaming contracts in Cuba and to establish fiber-optic and satellite links between United States and Cuba.

“We think the positive benefits here will way outweigh any negative effects that they may have” said Dan Restrepo, a special assistant to the president giving his remarks in both English and Spanish. “That creating independence, creating space for Cuban people to operate freely from the regime is the kind of space they need to start the process toward a more democratic Cuba.”

 

In Miami, travel agencies began considering additional charter flights and bigger planes.

 

But the policy change also reignites one of the most emotionally charged issues in

Miami’s Cuban exile community: Should exiles visit the island they fled, and in doing so, help prop up the communist governments economy with U.S. dollars? This is a question I’m sure will hit hard with many of the cigar manufactures that still have family in Cuba.

 

 

Sources for this story: The Washington Post

                                 Fox News, West Palm Beach, FL.

                                 Miami Herald

Tabacalera Fernandez - Simply Amazing

Wednesday Novemeber 19th, 2008 5:30pm Nicaragua

The clunk from the sound of landing gear wakes me in my seat as it is evident that I have just landed in Managua,  Nicaragua yet another time this year. As people from the plane scurry to be the first off I am reminded that I will be  moving no where fast lugging around 150 extra pounds of camera gear. As the conveyor belt at the airport rolls by  I double check to make sure I have everything. Got it! Tripod strapped across my shoulders, hard case on  wheels containing the video camera , backpack with 2nd video camera and a still camera, and last but not least my  duffle bag with clothes for the week. A quick stop at the duty free to pick up a special bottle of rum for a buddy and I am on my way. I make my way out of the airport to an awaiting driver from Esteli,  Nicaragua that has been sent to bring me to a factory that I have been wanting to see for some time now. Night  falls quickly as we drive along the highway in turbo charged Toyota Helix, a model not made for the states with more than enough power to get me to Esteli in 2 hours flat.

Arriving in Esteli, Nicaragua I quickly notice that we are driving to the nicer part of town. Many of the cigar  manufacturers own homes in a certain area of town and I am invited to stay with Kris Katchaturian on this trip. Kris greets me at the door and we do the man hug thing. A little background on Kris Katchaturian or "Don Kristopher" as I would soon call him out of respect and friendship. An Armanian man of stout stature with a silver tongue he is a man that I would soon grow very fond of. Every great story has a wise man that guides the character of the story, Kris is this wise man. When you are in another country such as Nicaragua it is great when you can trust someone to show you the right path, I trust Kris with my life. I first met Kris on my second trip to Nicaragua and we kept in touch. I was excited to hear that Tabacalera Fernandez was now created thier brand that would debute in early 2009. I would get the chance to visit this factory and meet the rising star blender AJ Fernandez. Kris has a pallate for cigars that can be equalled to that of a sominaire of wine. He pulls no punches when he smokes new blends of cigars and has a keen eye for construction. This man is very generous with anything he has including opening his home on this trip to me and Alex Svenson from Cigar.com. Kris is a partner in the Tabacalera Fernandez factory located in Esteli, Nicaragua. The factory is known for producing cigars such as Rocky Patel Fusion, Rocky Patel Signature, Man O' War, Gurka Park Avenue, Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet, Sol Cubano Artisan, Padilla  Habano and ITC (Indian Tabac) 10th Anniversary.

I pull out the special bottle of rum and hand it to Kris, he looks at it and realizes why I brought him that rum. On our first meeting we had actually shared a bottle of the same rum and it has become a favorite for me ever since then. Very sweet and a perfect compliment to an after dinner cigar the rum is subtle enough that it does not overpower flavors of a fine cigar. He thanks me and we talk for a couple of hours before a knock at the door and a familiar voice is heard. We make our way to the door to greet Alex Svenson of Cigar.com and help him in. Alex is the Chief Merchant for Cigar.com so yes he has a dream job. He gets to smoke everything new and also works with many factories on exclusive cigars just for Cigar.com. Sounds fun right? I would soon learn that he works his tail off and it is very hard to keep up with him. He has unlimited energy and drive along with the fact that he does not rest until all of his work is done each day. Some people have Blackberrys, Alex has a Apple Macbook strapped to his side. Smoking since he was first able to score a cigar he is a cigar nut and the Wikapedia of tobacco today. At close to 6'-3" Alex is a big boy which makes him stand out in Central America but by no means looks like an easy target. If you are walking the streets of Nicaragua at night this is a guy you want with you, he knows the ins and outs of Esteli. I would learn alot from Alex and it was really great to be with him on this trip.

We all get settled in for the night and talk about our plans for the next day. We order the best damn pizza I have ever had and smoked into the night.

Thursday Novemeber 20th, 2008 8:00am Esteli, Nicaragua

A full belly and a morning cigar already half smoked we arive at Tabacalera Fernandez. As the gaurd escorts us to the office area a charasmatic young man welcomes us to the factory. Recognizing him as none other than the AJ Fernandez I introduce myself as Daniel Lopez of Puff.com. I drop my gear and sit down for a cold refreshment and one of the new cigars by the Fernandez Tabacalera. Like a proud father AJ starts the tour of the factory with me and I quickly realize that this young man has master blending skills. I have been to a number of factories at this point so it was a bit of a shock to see things at this factory that really are different then other factories. From double fermentation, chewing pieces of tobacco, to rolling cigars that have been aging between your fingers to listen for the crack, this factory is different.

The smell of cigars being rolled in mass is one that should be bottled and sold. Usually when you enter a rolling room you get this smell that hits your senses and sometimes you can smell a hint of amonia. This is NOT the case here in the Fernandez Tabacalera rolling room. This room smells like an aging room which totally throws me off. Why would this be? I would later find out during a tour of the fermentation areas located in another area of Esteli, Nicaragua that this tobacco is actually aged twice. Now this is really interesting how they do it as well. First they sort the tobacco into either viso, seco, or ligero and ferment it in pilones. Next after the pilones have passed through and undisclosed amount of aging time the pilones are then separated by texture and placed into smaller pilones of the same textures. Amazing is not the word for this because the shear fact that the cigars become so consistent in construction is for the fact that the rollers are working with the exact same materials for each cigar.

Next we make our way to the aging room and that is where another step Nof the magic takes place. In this area Kris Katchaturian gives me a bit of insight on the way Fernandez Tabacalera deals with shipping cigars and I am surprised by his words. Kris explains that there is no set time that the cigars have to sit before they are ready for the consumer. He explains further that each time it is different since cigars are a natural product and you must listen to the product. I ask him about what he means. AJ and Kris go on to explain to me how to roll a cigar between your fingers and listen for the crack. Crack? Yes, cigars that are in the aging room are rolled and they are moist. After time they adjust to the perfectly temperature and humidity controlled aging room and start to acclimate themselves to the set humidity and temperature. I grab the video camera and start shooting so that the members of Puff.com see it for themselves. One thing that I will try to keep in mind is that since AJ only speaks spanish there will be many long hours translating for sub titles in English. I do feel that it is very important to do this because it will give the members of Puff.com every opportunity to understand the process of blending, aging, and the other aspects of this great factory.

Energy! Enthusiasm! These are the two words that describe AJ Fernandez and Kris Katchaturian so I decide to do something special for an intro for the premier video. With help from a second camera held by "Swanson" we set out to shoot a cool entrance video. After setting up we get our entrance shot and AJ and Kris are greeted by the sounds of hundreds of chiveras clanking against the rolling tables and cheers from rollers themselves. Respect for the men that put food on the table is a common thing here and working hard is rewarded as seen in many cases throughout the trip.

Damn Lunch time already? It is apparent as the masses of employees get up in perfect timing to leave for lunch. After picking out a few cigars for after lunch we head out to eat. As we roll through the streets.........

................Full Article Coming Soon.....................

 

 

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What a crazy world we live in. I just read today that Michael Phelps our national hero for his amazing accomplishments in the Olympics was offered $25,000 by Gurkha Cigars to become their spokesperson. What a bizarre combination. But even if he says no (and I am betting he says no) will it matter? They already recieved a decent amount of press on it (was posted to TMZ). Is it really true what they say that there is no bad press? I am beginning to wonder...

So I decided to try the "Angry Whopper" from Burger King.  After watching the commercials I was thoroughly convinced that this was a burger on par with Hardee's jalapeno burger.  well after plunking down my cash for an angry whopper I ate it...

 You know what was angry about it?  Me.

There was no anger, no retribution for the abused onion, although I think they should sell the onion petals the adorn his burger with separately.  The burger was average and almost bland.  I wasn't happy and would never recommend this burger for anyone.  The advertising got me to buy one burger, but thats about it.

What does this have to do with cigars?  Keeps your pants on I'm getting to it.

I have seen many ads over the years about cigars being strong, being the strongest, being the cats ass (meaning best).  They haven't been strong, they weren't the strongest.  In fact, some of them even tasted like ass (I've never tasted cat ass, but I'm sure some even tasted like feline ass)

My advice and the point?

DONT BELIVE WHAT THE MANUFACTURERS TRY TO FUNNEL INTO YOUR GULLET!

Find out what you would like my talking to smokers you trust, don't trust the idiot kid behind the counter who would rather unwrap a fine cigar to use the wrapper to smoke oregano and catnip that his dumbass stoner  friend gave him as primo humboldt county weed.  If you cant find someone you trust, take up your own torch and lead into the darkness searching for knowledge of the taste you like.  Don't believe some dipshit manufacturer that doesn't even taste his own cigars, just smoked a sample and said thats good while the factory swaps out the good tobacco and gives him shit that he couldnt pawn off on some other sucker.

And because the owner of the cigar brand tells us its the best shit in the world doesnt mean it is, it just makes us like the dumb clerk who bought fake weed to pretend to get stoned.

Having to say how stupid it is to be against the law to smoke in a smoke shop is about as obvious as saying the sky is blue and grass is green.

 Anyway, many of you have probably come across all kinds of crazy laws in different towns and cities across the US that forbid smoking in tobacconists and cigar lounges.

 If you can spare 60 seconds, you can help do something about it.

 There is an online petition you can sign for "The Tobacconist Preservation Act"

"The Tobacconist Preservation Act is a proposed Federal Law which will preserve and protect Tobacconist and consumer rights to smoke in retail Tobacconist stores."

I just signed it and added my comments as such:

It is just purely logical that educated adults should be able to make their own life choices that do not effect other people. This is part of the "pursuit of happiness" one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. We do not need, nor do we want government to dictate what is "good for us". 

The Tobacconist Preservation Act

How often does it happen that the weather is just perfect for a cigar, not to hot, not to cold, not to humid, and not to windy. Well that happened to me the other day so I just had to grab me a smoke and head outside. Now the hard part, what to smoke.

 Not to long ago Frank Santos of Reyes Family Cigars had sent me some cigars to try out. He sent me the two Reyes Family cigars, and some Cuba Ailados cigars. One was the Cuba Aliados Anniversary which I have smoked before and enjoy. It was already gone. Another Cuba Aliados had a red band on it. Well went I went to my humidor that holds some singles in it this cigar just happened to be starring at me, so I grabed it.

It is a Toro size cigar, medium in color, nice looking wrapper and looks well conctructed. Like I said the band is red, flat on the bottom and a round crown on the top. It say "CUBA ALIADOS" on it. So I head outside and light this baby up. Right away I am hit with a flavor of toast and almonds. A combo I don't think I have ever tasted in a cigar before but I sure was liking it. As I smoked this cigar it was clear that it was very complex with its flavor, was medium in body and very smooth. The flavor if this cigar keep changing on me. The almond went away only to be replaced with what I would call a sweet hay flavor. Along with the sweet hay was green grass. The sweet hay seemed to stay for most of the cigar, but the flavors with it changed often. From green grass to toast, back to green grass, then cedar, then back to hay and toast. I was getting into the last third of the cigar and was thinking what else can this baby throw at me. Yeah it must have been reading my mind. How about a taste of grilled meat for a couple of puffs, have never tasted that before either but it was nice. The cigar finished with a strong cedar with some spice. The only time I picked up any spice in the cigar.

Man I was impressed with this cigar. It turned out to be a great smoke on this perfect day. There are many times I can smoke a cigar and don't pick up certain flavors, but that day it just worked out perfect.

I emailed Frank Santos to find out what this cigar was. Turns out this is a Miami made cigar. Here is the info on it. "Rolled in Miami - production is only 200 cigars per day. Habano wrapper / Sumatra binder / DR & Nic fillerWe just started shipping these to select retailers, not too many. "

I have seen Reyes Family cigars get a bad rap from time to time on cigar forums. "To mild, not enough flavor etc etc". Well let me tell you that even though this isn't a full body smoke it is complex with plenty of flavor. So keep an eye out for these cigars. They will have the red band, but they will also have a white band under it with "Limited Miami Edition" on it, as well as a cedar sleveve with "Limited Miami Edition" stamped on it.

If you're reading this website, you probably know all about SCHIP and tobacco taxes. It has been discussed to death and I do not want to beat a dead horse. Instead of discussing the politics of it, I would like to raise the issue of logic ... or lack thereof.

I scanned a bunch of news stories and press releases about it this morning. There were a bunch of them as President Obama signed the bill yesterday.

I was prompted to make this post while reading this press release:
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-04-2009/0004966727&EDATE=

Basically it talks about what a wonderful thing it is to have the State Children's Health Insurance Plan law (SCHIP), and implies how righteous it is to have the evil disgusting smokers pay for it with increased taxes on tobacco products.

Aside from health insurance, keep in mind they are also talking about how troubling it is that use of small cigars and cigarillos has increased amongst youth, and I can picture them nearly kneeling down to praise the Lord that there is proof that increasing taxes on tobacco products decreases their use.

Ok, fine. Like I said, let's skip the politics for a moment and consider the absence of simple basic logic.

Please note this line from the above referenced press release:
"For years there has been an established correlation between increased taxes on tobacco and a decrease in consumption rates. This is especially true among price-sensitive youth and young adults," Healton said. "The signing of SCHIP into law is indeed a momentous victory for the public health community on several fronts."

Yes, but those two different fronts compete against each other!

Victory #1: The kids get health insurance and it is paid for by tobacco taxes! Woo hoo! Let's start the celebration!

Victory #2: The oh so misguided young tobacco smokers will decrease their use of tobacco because the prices went up from the taxes! Great!!! Except for the fact that lower use of tobacco equates to lower tax revenues from it, which now negates "Victory #1".

I guess no one told them there would be math involved.

The art of cigar making and the art of an illustrator have been blended for a good cause: raising funds for El Museo del Barrio, a Caribbean and Latin American cultural institution in New York City.

La Flor Dominicana founder Litto Gomez is involved in this effort.

You can read the article here

So you are probaly thinking what is this guy talking about. Well it all starts with Sam Leccia (maker and owner of Nub). You see when Sam first started working for Oliva he wanted to everything there is to know about cigars. One of the ways he learned about the flavors of different tobacco was to take wrappers off one cigar and put on another and then smoke. Most will agree the main flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper.

After meeting Sam and talking to him about this, then him showing me how to as he did it I started playing with it some. You really can taste the difference in the wrappers and how they change a cigar. I haven't done one in a while just do to time, but here is a how to that I posted on CL back in August.

What you need.

1. Two cigars about the same size.

2. Spray bottle with distilled water.

3. Pectin (found at grocery store, near canning items).

4. Something sharp.

First thing you do is get the pectin ready. You just take a small amount of the powder and mix with some distilled water.

Take one of the cigars and spray it down from head to foot. You will prob need to spray the head sevral times because of the cap and the way the leaf is wrapped around under the cap.

Carefully start taking the cap off. There really is no special way to do it, just be careful. Once you have it off put to the side, you will reuse it.

Now you can start to work on the wrapper. I have noticed that most have a small piece of tobacco that is part of the wrapper that is wrapped almost like a cap and twisted on top of the cigar. This can be very hard to get off without tearing. The spray bottle is your friend here and don't be afraid to use it. Once you have this part off make sure the rest of the wrapper is still damp (not soaking wet) and slowly unwrap it from the cigar. Side aside.

Repeat these steps for the other cigar. Make sure you know which wrapper goes on which cigar, I know that sounds funny but with the wrappers off you may not be able to tell which cigar is which. And yes I put a wrapper back on the same cigar it came off of LOL.

So now take one wrapper, make sure it is damp (you may need to spray it down again). Lay the wrapper down flat, you may need to stretch the leaf but be sure not to tear it. Start at the foot of the cigar and the point of the leaf (I put a little pectin on the point of the leaf) and start rolling the cigar around the leaf. Be sure as you roll it that you try to keep it as smooth as you can. When you get to the head try to repeat what you undid at the begining LOL. The main thing is to try to have the wrapper as tight to the top of the head as you can. I also use a little pectin here too (when you use the pectin you may need to add some water from the spray bottle just so its not to thick). Ok all you need to do now is put on the cap. Once again make sure the cap is moist, add pectin to the whole bottom of the cap and place on the head of the cigar. Make sure the cap is laying flate then you are done.

I put mine back in the humi for at least 24 hours but that is not a must.

Good luck and get to work!

Later this week I will post a review of one of the cigars I switched.

Thanks for reading