Cigars vary considerably in appearance, from unbanded and deformed cheroots to the most elegantly packaged boutique brands.  The Flor de Copan brand falls nearer the latter, with each cigar delicately wrapped in its own cedar sheath held together by two bands on either end.  This cedar wrap is in addition to a more traditional band near to the cigar’s foot.  While this could potentially be used as a tactic for hiding flawed wrapper leaves, this was not the case for this cigar, whose construction and aesthetic beauty are superb; the …

When the wife takes one of those shopping trips south of the border and you end up as the chauffeur, make sure you take advantage of the situation and make a detour to a local cigar shop. In my case, being from Vancouver, I’m talking about the Fairhaven Smoke Shop. Set in the quaint tourist village of Fairhaven, near Bellingham, you can expect turn-of-the-century buildings and good restaurants – just the recipe to distract the lady from the true nature of the visit. On my most recent trip, Michael pointed …

When you’re preparing for a scotch tasting, in particular one held at a private home in the summertime, bringing along an accompanying cigar should be a priority.  Some tastings may even sell them at the event. For A Dram Come True, I chose to purchase what I was told was a good value Nicaraguan cigar at $12, Thomas Hinds Maduro Robusto.  Had the tasting itself required less of an initial investment, I may have chosen something more extravagant. As the tasting was coming to a close and the auction was …

Produced in the Dominican Republic, Pinar Del Rio is a partnership between Juan Rodriguez and Abraham Flores.  The company makes two lines of cigars, the Habano Sun Grown and the Habano Oscuro.  The Sun Grown features a deep red-brown wrapper, while the Oscuro features a maduro wrapper.  Both lines have been made in the Don Leoncio factory since the brand’s introduction in 2008.  With the founding partners’ deep roots in the Dominican cigar industry, I was interested to see how this cigar would turn out.

Making cigars for 5 generations, the Fuego family were pioneers in the Cuban cigar business.  Now Jesus Fuego has partnered with Honduras’ Nestor Placencia to develop a series of cigars with sun grown Corojo wrappers and full-bodied flavour.  After spending some time as Rocky Patel’s go-to guy, Jesus Fuego went out on his own a few years back, and the cigars he is producing have met very positive reviews.  Like all of his offerings, the Gran Reserva Corojo #1 is made with aged leaf; if that’s not enough, after construction …