Initial Thoughts Walking through my local liquor store the other day I noticed a new bottle sitting on the shelf. It was next to some other Wild Turkey bottles, and I thought hmm, this is kind of odd and out of place. After looking at it a little longer, I realized it was a new bottle of Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel Bourbon! This new bottle is a far cry from the old bottle in terms of presentation. Honestly I think this bottle better represents the brand. The old bottle looked similar to a bottle of Remy Martin cognac to me. I can see that the old bottle maybe represented the fan ..read more

Initial Thoughts If you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on in the cigar industry then you’ve definitely noticed Crowned Heads. In fact this year Halfwheel honored them as their Company of the year. So clearly the industry is taking notice. The Juarez release is a bit of a new path for Crowned Heads. They have been partnering with other established brands throughout all of 2018, but they haven’t really tackled the ‘value lines’. Enter the Juarez release. Juarez by Crowned Heads According to Jon Huber, of Crowned Heads this cigar was a collaboration between CH and a small factory in Est ..read more

Initial Thoughts Padron cigars are always a cigar that people talk about with a little bit of mystique behind them. Everyone knows that they’re really good but can never put a finger on it. Let alone remember which one they smoked. I know I’ve had quite a few Padron cigars in my day and if it weren’t for this site I wouldn’t be able to tell you which ones that I have smoked because the numbering system is a bit confusing. After digging into the Padron website I think I’ve cracked the code though. This Padron Family Reserve 45 Years Natural is part of the Family Reserve connection whi ..read more

Initial Thoughts Up until now Debonaire has only had two cigars in their portfolio. Those two cigars were the same binder and filler yet they utilized different wrappers, a Habano and a Maduro. This Debonaire Daybreak release is the first release under the Debonaire house since joining up with Drew Estate to handle the sales and distribution of the brand. The Debonaire Daybreak was first announced back in 2017 at the IPCPR show and has been on shelves for a while now. It’s available in 6 sizes: First Degree: 4 x 44 Sagita: 5 1/2 x 38 Corona: 6 x 46 Robusto: 5 x 50 Toro: 6 x 50 Belico ..read more

Initial Thoughts If you’re like me then you probably hadn’t heard much fanfare over the release of this Old Henry Clay Rye Whiskey. In fact I hadn’t heard anything about it at all. The reason I picked it up is because I went into my buddy’s liquor store where he is the general manager to pick up a bottle EH Taylor that he held for me. Then he brought me over to the shelf and said, I think you should review this Old Henry Clay Rye Whiskey. He said it’s cheap, and it’s delicious. So get it while you can. How could I turn down that sort of introduction! So here we are! I started digging ..read more

Initial Thoughts Part 3 of Alec Bradley review is featuring the Alec Bradley Sanctum. I’ve seen this cigar around and on the shelves and hadn’t picked it up yet. I think the reason being the name Sanctum, for some reason I was equating that with Asylum and the somewhat negative word association with Asylum… That’s what happens when you ain’t so smart and can’t remember them good words… Nonetheless I finally picked one up for this review week. Not to drop too many spoilers, but I’m sure happy that I did! The Alec Bradley Sanctum is a unique cigar in the fact that it leverages tobacco ..read more

Initial Thoughts If you’re not familiar with the Alec Bradley Prensado Lost Art then you’ve probably heard of it’s cousin, the Alec Bradley Prensado which received an astounding 96 rating from CA a few years back. This new release pays homage to it’s ancestor / cousin whatever you want to call it. All the while tipping it’s hat to the idea of the ‘Lost Art’ of things being hand made in an artisanal way. We all know that automation, robots, and technology help us out in our daily lives but the cigar industry is something that is still very artisanal and sometimes it’s difficult to wrap our ..read more

Initial Thoughts I personally feel that there are few brands which can deliver the goods year after year. They consistently put out new cigars with updated looks and stay relevant within the industry. Alec Bradley is certainly one of those brands. They put out some great cigars, the packaging always looks fantastic and up to date yet keeping a nod to the heritage of the industry. That being said, we’re kicking off the Alec Bradley Review Week with the Alec Bradley Coyol Toro! I’ll be honest, I missed this cigar when it came out a few years ago. I like to call those the dark ages when I wasn’t ..read more

Initial Thoughts I’ll be honest, I haven’t smoked too many non-Cuban Romeo y Julietas. I tend to pass them up in the B&M shops and head towards the boutique section. As of late though, I’ve been finding myself smoking more Altadis & STG owned brands or Big Box brands. I supposed that’s just the evolution of cigar smoking. You bounce around and find other lines that you just pick up and explore. However, I didn’t do any browsing of a B&M to find this Primer Lote by Romeo Y Julieta. In fact our sponsors BestCigarPrices.com hooked me up with a sample. This particular blend is han ..read more

Stogies On The Rocks | Cigar Reviews and Spirit Pairings Initial Thoughts Walking through my local liquor store the other day I noticed a new bottle sitting on the shelf. It was next to some other Wild Turkey bottles, and I thought hmm, this is kind of odd and out of place. After looking at it a little longer, I realized it was a new bottle of Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel Bourbon! This new bottle is a far cry from the old bottle in terms of presentation. Honestly I think this bottle better represents the brand. The old bottle looked similar to a bottle of Remy Martin cognac ..read more