The CAO cigar company is another relative newcomer in the world of cigars. They were established in 1968 and survived the cigar boom, when numerous cigar companies came and even more fell. They’ve created numerous lines and blends with equally unique and innovative packaging. Now they’ve created another new line, the CAO OSA Sol. The secret behind the OSA Sol is the unique wrapper, a proprietary Honduran leaf grown in Olancho, San Agustin, which provides a robust earthy and fuller bodied flavor and aroma. To balance out the wrapper, a …
Alan Ruben has come a long way from where he started in the cigar industry. From his first two unsuccessful entries, he’s turned around and created some solid cigars that are known by many aficionados and enthusiasts as solidly crafted cigars in terms of construction and blending. The Alec Bradley cigar company is considered his greatest success, with entries such as the Maxx and Trilogy being very successful. His crowning achievement is in creating the Tempus line, which uses select tobacco from the Trojes region of Honduras and Jalapa region …
601 cigars are the creation of famed cigar maker Don Jose Pepin Garcia. The cigars themselves are produced by United Tobacco Inc under EO Brands; however, they were blended by the great maker Don Pepin. 601 cigars are quite new, released as recently as 2006. Though they are newcomers, that doesn’t mean there is any less quality put into them. Don Pepin is well known in the tobacco world as a master blender, and has created numerous lines that are quite successful and sought after. He is known for creating …
I’ve touched on Alec Bradley cigars before and touched on its history in a previous review. To recap, Alec Bradley was founded in 1997 by Alan Rubin, who named the company after his two sons. Previously, Alan had been an importer who had made enough money to start a business in something he truly enjoyed: cigars. His first two cigar lines, Bogies Stogies and Gourmet Dessert Cigars, weren’t too successful. However, once he met with Davidoff’s Hendrik Kelner, things started to turn around. He created the Occidental line and things …
Romeo y Julieta is one of the oldest cigar makers, dating back to 1875 by Inocencio Alvarez and Mannin Garcia. The brand is named after Shakespear’s famous play, though the brand itself and its cigars are most definitely not a tragedy. The brand took off in the early 1900s when Jose “Pepin” Rodriguez Fernandez took over the brand and started promoting it worldwide. Interestingly, he used his racehorse, Julieta, to help garner name recognition and fame for the name, and strangely enough it worked well. The brand became very popular …
The Oliva cigar company has a rich history in cigar making. It started in 1886 with Melanio Oliva, who grew his own tobacco and made his own cigars in Cuba. Melanio put tobacco aside to fight in the Cuban War for Independence, but would return to his passion and later hand it off to his son, Hipolito. When the communist government started to increase power, Hipolito traveled across South America to find the best growing conditions for tobacco, and settled in Nicaragua. Today, Oliva is the second largest grower of …
