Cigar Smokers

Episode 114: Nick Melillo

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…

Read More

Cigar Review: Y Panda Toro by Luciano Cigars

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…

Read More

18 Clear the Air: A Simply Stogies After Show

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…

Read More

Cigar Review: Seleccion De Fabrica Connecticut by Davidoff

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…

Read More

Episode 113: Jose Blanco

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…

Read More

17 Clear The Air: A Simply Stogies After Show

James takes over as host of Clear The Air for the first and last time (hopefully) as this particular occasion went to his head. Just kidding. Tim sat in as the guest host for the Pete Johnson interview on the last episode of Simply Stogies so James is now sitting in for Tim on Clear…

Read More

Cigar Review: El Gueguense Macho Raton by Foundation Cigars

The El Gueguense line was one of the first cigars I had from Foundation. I instantly fell in love with the medium-bodied blend and the company. If there was one cigar I would tell people to buy if they are just starting to smoke cigars, it is the El Gueguense in Corona. It is balanced,…

Read More

Episode 112: Catching Up with Pete Johnson

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…

Read More

Cigar Review: Club Mareva Jure from Casdagli Cigars

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…

Read More

16 Clear The Air: A Simply Stogies After Show

Tim, James, and Nick are back again to talk about the latest Simply Stogies Podcast with special guest Vlada Stojanov of Bespoke Cigar Co. Unfortunately no one came to the table with any jokes, but there is plenty of good conversation about the skill of the retrohale. James explains how Simply Stogies rates their cigar…

Read More