James and Nick Syris welcome back Nick Melillo to the show. Nick talks about what’s new at Foundation Cigars (Metapa, Tabernacle Knight Commander, and the Charter Oak Pasquale and Pegnataro). The trio briefly talk about Nick Melillo running the DE Factory, before they deep dive on the Highclere Castle Senetjer. We discuss how things have…
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The 2023 PCA Trade Show gave us a lot to look forward to, and one of those cigars was the Y Panda by Luciano Cigars. I was lucky enough to steal the one that was given to Tim and smoke it at the show. Honestly, it was one of the better samples that I tried…
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Tim calls the hosts of Simply Stogies Podcast, Nick and James, back to the microphones to discuss Episode 113: Jose Blanco. The trio expand on some of the topics touched on in Episode 113. Should you retrohale? Where do the thirds of cigars come from? Are cigar reviews helpful? The topic then turns to cigar…
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Full transparency: there isn’t a lot of information out there about this brand by Davidoff. When you Google search for Seleccion de Fabrica by Davidoff the only thing that comes up are links to buy the cigars from Oxford Cigar Company. What I could gather about the Seleccion de Fabrica Connecticut by Davidoff was found…
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James and Nick welcome cigar industry legend, Jose Blanco to the show. The trio discuss what cigar smokers should know and why they should know it, we take a look at how Jose got started in the industry, and how he started with Arturo Fuente. Jose Blanco is a wealth of knowledge and we are…
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With James out and about, Nick shows off his interviewing chops by having a great conversation with his longtime friend Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars. The trio discuss Pete’s start in the industry, the CRA, Pete’s involvement with the movie Hand Rolled: A Film About Cigars, and what Tatuaje has coming up. We find out…
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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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Stay smoky, friends.