Located near the “cigar capital of the world,” Ybor City, Grand Cathedral Cigars opened in May of 2021. Owner Angela Yue renovated an old church into a beautiful cigar lounge complete with member only areas, a walk-in humidor, fully stocked bar, a large patio with outdoor bar service, a koi pond, and plenty of room…
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Every year, and the day before the Rocky Mountain Cigar Fest, Nick Melillo holds a Foundation event at a cigar lounge in the Denver, CO area. This year, it was at The Smoking Cave in Highlands Ranch, CO. The event also served as the launch party for Foundation’s newest release, the Olmec. I was lucky…
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Micallef, there is a lot to unpack with this brand. Full disclosure, I like the Micallef / Gomez Sanchez Family cigars, every one I have smoked I have enjoyed. I have had the chance to chat up their team at the PCA this year. If we are looking at the beginning of an end to…
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My most recent podcast episode features Rick and Sara Rodriguez of West Tampa Tobacco Co. During our conversation, Rick discussed what it was like going from a “corporate kitchen” (CAO) full of “ingredients” (almost any tobacco he wanted to work with), to a “home kitchen” (WTTC) with few ingredients (limited access to tobacco) to work…
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Orange Virginia is the forgotten middle child of the Virginia pipe tobacco landscape. I mean that quite literally. For a flue-cured Virginia, that is, dried by indirect heat over a handful of days, there will be a gradation of color from the base to the top, which is due to the variation of chemical compounds…
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Rick Rodriguez is a name that most enthusiasts and aficionados have heard of. Rick has had a lot of accomplishments over his 22yrs with General Cigar Co. Learning from such Titans in the industry as E.P. Carillo, Daniel Núñez, and Benji Menendez, Rick took over as “Brand Ambassador” for CAO. There he had a string…
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Tucked away in a nondescript strip mall on the southeast side of Omaha, the Omaha Cigar Company sits in-between a dry cleaning business and a Korean food restaurant. The small storefront and lack of an eye-catching sign, it’s the kind of cigar lounge that you might pass by and not think twice about. But should…
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John Laurendi, owner and co-founder of Peter James, announced his foray into cigars with his Los Estoico line. Listening to John talk about his cigars, you can hear the passion in his voice. Known for their leather cigar cases, cigars seem like the next logical step for Peter James. The Los Estoico line have a…
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Cigar smoking is about slowing down, relaxing, socializing with other people of the leaf, and shutting out all of our daily distractions. We don’t want to think of the smoke and smell that can linger afterwards; which is why most of us smoke at a lounge or outdoors. But what about when you can’t? There…
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In the last decade HP Lovecraft has had a revival. Once relegated to the black fingernail polish set, now even your mom and maybe your baby is passingly familiar with Cthulhu and the concept of the Eldritch horror. And maybe why the person behind the expansive literary exploration of dread is not to be celebrated….
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