Simply Stogies

Cigar Review: Four Kicks Mule Kick 2023 by Crowned Heads

The Mule Kick is a cigar that I look forward to every year. I have hopes that one of these years it will match the greatness that was released in 2012. While I have written about Crowned Heads being a good limited-edition cigar brand in the past, I have found myself smoking mostly Crowned Heads…

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19 Clear the Air: A Simply Stogies After Show

Tim brings James and Nick back to the mic to discuss the latest episode of Simply Stogies Podcast with guest Nick Mellilo of Foundation Cigars. The trio discuss boutique cigars, the rising costs, the inevitable Simply Stogies cigar of the year list and much more.

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Cigar Review: New World Dorado Toro by AJ Fernandez Cigars

Most cigars tend to use tobacco from multiple farms or countries, so it is much less common to see a cigar constructed with tobacco from the same farm or country. The newest edition of the New World brand from AJ Fernandez not only uses tobacco all from the same country, Nicaragua, but also uses tobacco…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Wessex Brown Virginia Flake

Frequent readers will throw up their hands and ask ‘What! Another Brown Virginia?’ New readers will ask ‘What even is Brown Virginia?’ As we’ve found in previous reviews, Brown Virginias are another name for Orange Virginias, which are in the middle of the stock, above the yellow Virginias at the base, and below the Red…

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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…

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