September / October 2020
Lose yourself in the
editorials SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020
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VITOLA 101 – TORO
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ESSENTIALS
The toro size used to be considered the fat bull of cigar shapes, but as ring gauges have continued to grow thicker and thicker, is the 6 x 50 toro the new “corona”?
NEWAIR 250 CT HUMIDOR Is this new, sleek refrigerated humidor better at maintaining humidity than those old converted wine coolers? You bet it is!
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ESSENTIALS
ALKEMISTA INFUSION VESSEL If you love your spirits but wish you could customize them with your creativity, we’ve got the gadget for you!
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FALLING FOR MICHIGAN
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BACKSTORY
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CONFESSIONS OF AN ABSOLUTE NEOPHYTE
We put in the miles to dig into the wide expanses of Michigan’s north. Autumn around the 45th Parallel brings brilliant flora and cooling breezes to go with some excellent smoking, good drinks and fine dining.
The photo shoots in this issue took months of planning, hand wringing, and sleepless nights. That was easy compared to hiking and climbing with hundreds of pounds of photography and video equipment to the shoot locations!
We receive emails, letters, and even manuscripts from smokers all over the world and we love that someone had the courage to put their thoughts, experiences, and fears on paper. This letter was submitted by a reader who wished to stay anonymous.
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features SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020
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LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
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FEEDBACK
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WHAT’S BURNIN’
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BRAND BREAKDOWN 26 VEGAFINA 1998 28 MOMBACHO CASA FAVILLI 30 VIVA LA VIDA
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SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB
67 84
RATINGS
100 102 104
VALLEY GIRL
SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB THE REAL MCCOY
TWITTER SCOREBOARD INSTAGRAM SCOREBOARD BRAND BREAKDOWN 104 TRAVELING ROAD SHOW 106 ATLANTA CIGAR EXPERIENCE 108 BACK THE BLUE WITH OLIVA CIGARS 110 ATABEY PRIVATE LOUNGE OPENING
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Falling for
MICHIGAN
Someone once said that the summer’s last heat and the winter’s first chill meet in the fall. In Michigan, that heat is all too brief and that chill all too soon, but the meeting is a blessing. The changing colors of the foliage are enough to draw even the most cynical snowbird into the northern territory of Michigan, and the aroma of freshly fallen leaves is the stuff of candles and incense. Deer, deep brown now, abound on the rolling farmland fattening up on the remnants of the growing season, and the broad-winged hawks that float above groves of evergreens are pondering a move south. While it was once a barren place filled with residents who seemed to emerge from six months of winter every spring like some ancient tribe having endured great hardship, today Northern Michigan, particularly the northwest part of the Lower Peninsula, is a thriving, moneyed region with all the accouterments of a city. That includes two excellent cigar bars, which are duly noted here and are surely the sign of a landed civilization. Along with the fine dining and some promising new lodging alternatives, the area is a grown-up haven for the good life.
by Steve Miller Photo: Sean - stock.adobe.com.
Casa Cuba
BY IVAN OCAMPO
Day 1 During pre-production we came to the conclusion that if we didn’t want to battle crowds of tourists for shots or end up with clichéd pictures of southern Utah, we’d have to go off the beaten path, literally. And to do so we would need guides and off-road vehicles as opposed to the large, lumbering SUVs we had rented to move the crew and equipment from the airport to our home base in Kanab, Utah. Thank God for that decision. The guides were not only critical in getting us to the spots but also helped ease the load of carrying gear. Fasten Your Seatbelt!
The Climb We left the slot canyons and headed towards the Cutler Point alcove, near the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument – a wind-blown dune and alcove combination near the peak of a sandstone mountain. The ride from Peekaboo to Cutler Point reinforced the importance of seatbelts and revealed that I have been severely underappreciating paved roads all this
incline through the mountain equivalent of deep beach sand. The air was thin; the base of the mountain was at 6,800 ft above sea level and we were climbing. And everyone except model Abigail Zientek, who we wanted to keep fresh, was carrying some sort of heavy pack or case that now seemed 10 times heavier. I let myself fall into the sand three times just to catch my breath on the way up.
The first location of the shoot was Peekaboo slot canyon. Slot canyons form by flash floods that come into the area in the early summer. The floods carve through the soft sandstone moving everything in their path including boulders and trees while creating these unique and beautiful canyons. To get to Peekaboo would require a relatively short drive on the highway and then a 20-minute off road trek that was quite the introduction to our trip. Full disclosure: I had never been off-roading so I was not aware that you needed to haul ass while driving through off-road trails of deep hot sand or run the risk of getting stuck. And haul ass we did! Saying it was a bumpy ride would be like saying that flying from Miami to Japan is a long flight. Once at Peekaboo, the hike out and back through the slot was relatively benign – about a quarter mile each way of mostly flat hard-packed dirt and rock. We got our shots and we were off to a great start. Day 1 morning session = success.
David Benoliel showing model Abigail Zientek the shot that would eventually be the cover. Chilling on the ledge at the Cutler Point alcove.
time. As we got close enough to see the peak in the distance, our guide Nick pointed and said, “You see that hole in the mountain, that’s where we’re going!” When he said it I didn’t realize he literally meant we were going to climb up the mountain to get to the hole. I don’t know what I was thinking, but it wasn’t that! We embarked on the longest quartermile hike you could possibly imagine. It started off easy enough and within minutes we were trudging up a steep
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We made it to the alcove and although thoroughly exhausted, it was immediately evident why we had to work so hard to get here; it is a truly amazing site. I have to give the crew credit for even making it to the alcove and for not being mad at me for underselling the difficulty of the job! Cover Shot Seven hours into the day, we were halfdead, covered in sand, and back in the Jeeps driving out to our final location.
48 CIGARS CUTTER: Screwpop Magpulse Cutter (screwpoptool.com) WRITING INSTRUMENT: William Henry RB8 Cabernet Rollerball (williamhenry.com) ASHTRAY: Aaron Thomas Vanilla Crush (aaronthomascollection.com)
TWITTER SCOREBOARD The cigar world is on Twitter and we aim to keep track of who’s leading who. The following is a scoreboard of the cigar world’s most relevant Tweeples. The list is sorted by number of followers and broken into groups: Top 20 Twitter Cigar Companies & Reps, Top 10 Twitter Retailers, Top 10 Online Cigar Tweeps, Top 3 Twitter Cigar Organizations, and Top 3 Cigar Radio Twitter accounts. If you have the numbers and belong in one of these groups, stand up and be counted! Set us straight via Twitter @cigarsnobmag. TOP CIGAR ORGANIZATIONS
TOP CIGAR COMPANIES ( sorted by Twitter followers ) Rocky Patel @RockyPatelCigar ................................................ Drew Estate Cigars @DrewEstateCigar .................................... Padron Cigar @PadronCigars ................................................... CAO International @CAOCigars ................................................ Alec Bradley Cigars @AlecBradley ........................................... La Flor Dominicana @LFDCigars .............................................. Jonathan Drew @JonathanDrewArt .......................................... Camacho Cigars @camachocigars ........................................... Ashton Cigars @ashtoncigar .................................................... Pete Johnson @TatuajeCigars .................................................. La Gloria Cubana @lagloriacubana ........................................... Xikar Inc @XIKARinc ............................................................... Nick Perdomo @PerdomoCigars .............................................. Miami Cigar Co @miamicigar ................................................... Davidoff Cigars @Davidoff_Cigars ........................................... Punch Cigars @punchcigars .................................................... Ernesto Padilla @PadillaCigars ................................................ AJ Fernandez @ajfcigars ......................................................... Avo Cigars @AvoCigars ........................................................... La Palina Cigars @La PalinaCigars ...........................................
35528 33547 28566 26084 20963 20520 18700 18582 18492 16498 15100 15000 13454 13107 12962 12861 12591 12461 11616 11552
Cigar Rights of America @cigarrights ...................................... 14738 Premium Cigar Association @PCA1933 .................................... 8404 Tobacconist University @tobacconistU ................................... 4495
TOP CIGAR RADIO Cigar Dave Show @CigarDaveShow ........................................ 11314 KMA Talk Radio @KMATalkRadio ............................................. 2247 Cigars and Scotch @CigarScotch ............................................ 1928
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TWEETS
Weird History @weird_hist
French 1913 postcard featuring the tallest, shortest, and fattest men of Europe playing cards.
TOP CIGAR RETAILERS & REPS Famous Smoke Shop @FamousSmokeShop ............................. Mulberry St. Cigars @MulberryStCigar .................................... Cigar Hustler @cigarhustler ..................................................... Cigar Row @CigarRow ............................................................ Jeff Borysiewicz – Corona Cigar Co @CoronaCigarCo................ Michael Herklots @MichaelHerklots ......................................... Barry – Two Guys Smoke Shop @Barry2Guys ........................... Lindsay Siddiqi @TheCigarChick .............................................. Cheap Humidors @cheaphumidors .......................................... Buckhead Cigar @BuckheadCigar ............................................
15250 13090 10999 7830 7544 6404 6349 5148 5135 4302
TOP ONLINE CIGAR TWEEPLES David Voth–Sex, Cigars, & Booze @SexCigarsBooze ................. Cigar News @CigaRSS ............................................................ Cigar Events @CigarEvents ..................................................... Cigar Federation @CigarFederation ......................................... Robusto Cigar Babe @RobustoBabe ........................................ Stogie Boys @StogieBoys ....................................................... Cigar Dojo @CigarDojo ............................................................ Cigar Evaluations @CigarEvaluation ........................................ The Stogie Guys @stogieguys .................................................. Cigar Inspector @CigarInspector .............................................
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145121 16462 14779 12047 10874 8340 8179 8154 7461 7437
Coco Maria
@thecigarmadame Feeling a little snobby on this #FuenteFriday Shoutout to @ cigarsnobmag for the feature in the latest edition
love is for suckers - cigars are for lovers score more great sticks like sweet jane, crazy alice & fat bottom betty from your deadwood tobacco co. and drew estate. SEPT / OCT 2020 | CIGAR SNOB |
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EVENTS TRAVELING ROAD SHOW Fifteen cities
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Oliva Cigar Co., Alec Bradley Cigar Co., and Crowned Heads joined to host the Traveling Road Show 2020, a blitz of 27 events in 15 cities over 11 days that showcased new products and provided exclusive releases to attendees. The roving cigar circus was hatched after the Premium Cigar Association show in Las Vegas was cancelled, and allowed the cigar makers to meet with their brick and mortar partners, have some hang time, and plan for better days that are undoubtedly ahead.
Mr. and Mrs. Rick Bidwell
Cris Gherman, Nha Kim and David Bullock
Rocky Patel with the ladies of BURN by Rocky Patel
Paul Staab and Allan Buelvas
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Wes Thornton and Brad Winstead
Paul Tarantino, Hamlet Paredes, Leo Vincent, Mark Hartmann and Joe Tarantino
José Morel, Ozzie Gómez, Hamlet Paredes, Hamlet Jr. and Ciro Rodríguez
Charlie López and Albert Sosa
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