MAY / JUNE 2021
In Love
ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons
Started From The Bottom
UNDERCROWN
Gifts
forDad
editorials MAY / JUNE 2021
22 FATHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE We love this celebration of the paternal bonds, and what better way to appreciate the dad in your life than with a heartfelt offering of thanks? Here are some suggestions to remove the guesswork.
25 SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY Charleston, South Carolina, packs a lot of punch into a small peninsula, full of food, fine smoking and some nice walking. Here’s a roadmap for the next time you find yourself aching to check out the Old South.
35 UNDERCROWN TURNS 10 What started as a mandate to quit sampling the goods turned into one of Drew Estate’s premier offerings, crafted by the guys on the floor. It’s an unusual story, and we’re proud to tell it.
58 THE BACKSTORY We went to Big Sur, California, for this issue’s Big Shoot. You see the result on the cover. But it’s never easy. Cue the frantic man who thought he was seeing something less than classy in our photography expedition.
62 FIRST CIGAR: BILLY GIBBONS You’ve seen ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons with his 1957 Gibson Flying V blazing, but often clutched between those fretting digits is something else ablaze. We talk to the man about his lifelong love of stogies.
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features MAY / JUNE 2021
14 LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
16 FEEDBACK
18 WHAT’S BURNIN’
42 SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB BIG SUR PACIFIC PARADISE FEATURING OLIVA CIGARS
65 RATINGS
82 TWITTER SCOREBOARD
84 INSTAGRAM SCOREBOARD
86 EVENTS 86 DOWNTOWN CIGAR BAR 6TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY
88 ROCKY PATEL 60TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
90 INDUSTRIAL CIGARS DERBY PARTY
92 MY FATHER EVENT AT
EMPIRE CIGAR LOUNGE
94 ESPINOSA CIGAR LUNCH AT CAFÉ CATULA
96 NESTOR MIRANDA PRIVATE
RESERVE LAUNCH AT EMPIRE CIGAR
98 OLIVA CIGAR EVENT AT TWIN PEAKS
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Photo: Explore Charleston, ExploreCharleston.com
By Steve Miller
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UNDERCROWN TURNS BY STEVE MILLER
HOW A CIGAR BORN ON THE FACTORY FLOOR ASCENDED TO STARDOM.
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featurin g
PACIFIC OLIVA PARADISE CIGARS
LIVE LIFE FROM A TO
SOME PEOPLE ARE HAPP Y BEING A TO B. AND SOME PEOPLE WANT THE WHOLE A TO Z VIA ANY WHERE THE Y LIKE THE LOOK OF. JUS T LIKE ZINO DAVID OFF. THE CIG AR S ROLLED IN HIS NAME SUIT HIS SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
A UNIQUE BLEND OF FLAVORS FROM A– Z FOLLOW US | @ZINOCIGARS
48 CIGARS
EVENTS ROCKY PATEL’S 60TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Naples, Fla.
Rocky Patel held a private birthday bash for his closest friends and family at Stock Ranch in Naples, Florida. The venue, with its immaculate stables and impeccable landscaping, made for a stunning backdrop for the evening. There were open bars serving high end wine and spirits at every turn and food from local restaurants including some of the best Indian food on Florida’s west coast. The highlight of the evening was the pre-release tasting of the Rocky Patel Sixty, a beautifully box-pressed blend coming to cigar stores in the summer.
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