The Jure is the latest offering of the Club Mareva line from Casdagli Cigars. It was made for the opening of Club Mareva Zagreb, in the capital of Croatia. It was also dedicated to the memory of Marko Bilić’s father. Jeremy spoke about this when he was last on our podcast. The Jure differs from…
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Vlada Stojanov, the man behind Bespoke Distribution, is a certified sommelier. For those who may not know what that it is, it’s someone who has been trained to taste. That may be an oversimplification, but it’s essentially correct. The testing to become a certified sommelier is intense. Vlada has parlayed that training into a successful…
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Nick and James welcome the illustrious Vlada Stojanov to the show. Vlada is the owner and founder of Bespoke Distributing and the man behind the Somm cigar lines. He is also a certified sommelier. The trio get into the weeds with cigar tasting and reviewing. Ever wonder what flavor notes are subjective and which are…
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James sits down via Zoom with Brian Desind of Privada Cigar Club. James and Brian discuss the cigar industry and Brian’s place in it. Topics include marketing, the FDA, Privada Cigar Club, the PCA, the CRA, and much more. This was a frank and honest conversation with who many consider to be a “polarizing” figure…
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We finish up our coverage of the 2023 PCA Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada with interviews from James and Nick. In this episode you’ll hear from newcomer Kaneda Cigars, the always entertaining Matt Booth of Room 101, Sebastien Decoppet of Cavalier Cigars, Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, and Nick Melillo of Foundation…
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This episode is made up from some of our favorite interviews from this year’s PCA 2023 Trade Show. For part 1 we start off with Scott Pearce, the Executive Director of the Premium Cigar Association as he talks about the trade show and some of what’s in store for next year. We then talk with…
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Nick and James sit down with Master Blender and owner of Luciano Cigars, Luciano Meirelles. Luciano tells us why the Maria Lucia is so special to him and how it fulfills his promise from the 2022 PCA Trade Show. We talk about what’s real in the cigar industry and how Luciano Cigars is helping mentor…
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Tim welcomes Nick and James back to dissect their conversation with Greg Free of Fuerte Y Libre. The conversation leans heavily into trademarks, protecting them, and how the cigar industry seems to have jumped the shark when it comes to them. The conversation turns to how the sausage is made in the cigar industry.
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James and Nick sit down and chat with the owner of Fuerte Y Libre Cigars, Greg Free. We find out how Greg got started in the cigar industry and he has more than a few surprises in store for us. We talk about his karaoke prowess (copyrights prevent me from sharing the footage with all…
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Micallef announced at the end of May, 2023, that they would be releasing their first new blend since 2020 called the Micallef Black at the PCA Trade Show in July. While it won’t get a wide release until July, there are several retailers who have had access to “pre-release” events and have been able to…
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