Thomas Pappalardo

2 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

A new Hoyo de Monterrey is coming very soon and it features a shade-grown wrapper from neither Connecticut nor Ecuador, but Honduras. Last year, General Cigar Co. celebrated the legacy of its non-Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey brand with the Rojo and Oscuro lines. Now, the company is following up with the Hoyo de Monterrey Shade, a mild cigar that will ship to retailers starting on June 2.

3 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Most cigars come in boxes, some come in bundles, but Pete Johnson’s Pork Tenderloin comes curiously packaged in white butcher paper, much like you would find at a high-end meat market. Johnson introduced the cigar in 2010, initially intended as an exclusive for a Boston retailer. But the Pork Tenderloin quickly gained popularity with consumers, enough so to warrant wider releases in 2016 and 2017 as an event-only cigar. Now the public will get a third helping as Pork Tenderloin returns this year.

4 weeks ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Last October, J.C. Newman Cigar Co. announced that a new size with an unusual shape called Troublemaker was being added to its Diamond Crown Julius Caeser line. It had a soft launch that month when it went exclusively to 36 Diamond Crown branded cigar lounges across the United States. Today, Troublemaker is heading to all U.S. retailers. Measuring 5 3/4 inches long, Troublemaker is made in a gently tapered perfecto, and is 52 ring gauge at its fattest point.

1 month ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

The world’s most popular beer festival, Oktoberfest, is still several months away but Quesada Cigars is getting into the spirit a little early. The seasonally themed Oktoberfest cigars were on display at this year’s PCA trade show in New Orleans and are scheduled to ship this August. Quesada Oktoberfest is made at the Quesada factory in the Dominican Republic, and has been blended to pair with German beer ever since the brand’s debut in 2011.

1 month ago | cigaraficionado.com | Thomas Pappalardo

Like a chef taking a familiar recipe and substituting one of the ingredients to see how it changes the flavor, Tatuaje Cigars’ Pete Johnson continues his experimentation on how different wrappers can affect cigars in his portfolio. At the PCA trade show, held earlier this month, he showed off previews of the Tuxtla and Corojo editions of 7th Corona Gorda, a size from his Tatuaje Seleccion de Cazador line, commonly known as Brown Label.