Dog Watch Cigar Radio Interview

I've been a listener of Dog Watch Cigar Radio for some time now, and this past week I was asked to do an interview for the What's Hot, Whats Not, Whats Next segment with Liz! This can be heard on episode #349. I talk about Burning Leaf (where I work) and a little bit about Cigarinhand.com, let me know what you think of the interview! Thanks again to Liz from Dog Watch for listening to me ramble on! 

http://www.cigarmedia.tv/

My Uzi Weighs a Ton Release!

Monday June 20th will be the day....the day the My Uzi Weighs a Ton is available! This cigar was created by Jonathan Drew, but wasn't done at his factory, it was produced at Joya De Nicaragua. Early samples were sent to Tim at Burning Leaf for a few of us to sample and submit our feedback to JD about the blend. I felt it needed a little more oomph and spice to balance out the sweetness from the Brazilian Mata filler (I wasn't the only one to submit similar feedback). This also has a Mexican San Andreas wrapper and plenty of Nicaraguan filler. The Uzi was re blended with more ligero which added little more strength. The final product is pretty damn tasty. I would say this is a solid medium/full bodied cigar full in flavor. These will be released in one size starting out, a 6x60 in bundles of 10 for $99.50 with a 7x60 and 5x60 in the works. The pre-release party will be June 20th at Burning Leaf cigars in Plainfield, IL. If you want to try the Uzi, this is the only place you will see them, at least at first. As soon as these are released I hope to get a review up.  

Oh, and of course Jonathan Drew will be at Burning Leaf for the release! I hope to see some of you there!

“Para Japón"

 On March 11, 2011, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the island of Japan -- the biggest earthquake in Japanese official record. The tsunami that followed caused unprecedented devastation on a level unseen by the Japanese people since WWII.

The voices and images of desperation have struck deeply in the hearts and

souls of the Dominican people whom, for many decades, have built a close

bond with Japan. La Aurora Cigar Factory has echoed the expressions of

solidarity of its employees and suppliers, and is glad to announce the creation of

a special edition cigar to help the humanitarian response to this disaster. “We

are very pleased to lay our helping hand to our brothers of Japan by supporting

the humanitarian assistance to this great nation,” says Guillermo Leon,

President of La Aurora. “When hurricanes have struck the Dominican

Republic, Japan was there for us,” Leon added. Proceeds from the sales of this

cigar will be donated to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief fund through

JAPAN TOBACCO IMEX CO. LTD.

The cigar named “Para Japón” or “For Japan” is a 5” x 50 medium bodied

vitola, made with selected premium tobacco leaves. These cigars have been

aged during three years and its blend is something really unique with an

exquisite Nicaraguan wrapper. Its package of 25 Sumo Robustos is decorated

with special artwork by Mario Takeyama and Dan Reeve, the design team of

CigarExplorer.com. Being involved in this project was important and personal to

Cigar Explorer, as founder Mario is a native of Japan and still has many friends

and family living there.

The “Para Japón” cigar will be available thru La Aurora distributors on April.

About La Aurora

La Aurora is the first Dominican Cigar factory. It was established in 1903, is own

by the León family whose roots in the tobacco industry trace back to the early

19th century. The factory is part of Grupo León Jimenes Corporation, the largest

industrial group in the Caribbean. La Aurora brands are among the most well

known cigars, with sales in more than 50 countries around the world.

www.laaurora.com.do

http://www.glj.com.do

About Cigar Explorer

Cigar Explorer is a production company injecting excitement to the cigar

community, with revolutionary tools, to discover and explore the world of cigars.

It creates content that helps cigar community strengthen its passion for cigar

culture at CigarExplorer.com in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

CigarExplorer.com | Experience the Discovery.

The loss of a great BOTL

This past Friday one of the nicest Brothers of the Leaf, Eddie Abbott,  passed away at age 47. Eddie had been battling an inoperable brain tumor since early September. His wife Amy, knowing how much Eddie enjoyed cigars and the group of guys on Blowinsmoke.net, has been keeping all of us up to date on everything going on. Eddie was one of those truly great guys that even if you just talked with him online, you could tell what a generous and stand up guy he was. I had the chance to meet up with Eddie at his home a few years ago. We had known each other for years through the cigar forum but hadn't met in person before, not that you would have known that by the welcome I received when I arrived at his house. Before I even had both feet in the door my hands were filled with cigars and pizza had been ordered. Eddie will be missed by all of his friends on Blowinsmoke and my deepest sympathies go out to his family. 

Eddies Obituary can be seen here. 

Kudos to the guys at Drew Estate

I wanted to thank the guys at Drew Estate (especially Johnny Brooke) for making the switching of my trip around go smoothly. It was pretty short notice, so switching the plane tickets around might have proven difficult, but their travel agent and Brooke took care of everything, including covering the fees of switching around the tickets. I can't wait to get down to Nicaragua to see the factory and fields and smoke plenty of Liga Privadas, in fact as I type this I am smoking one of the Dirty Rats! I am pretty sure I drove John Brooke absolutely crazy with trying to iron out all the details with this trip, but he never seemed to care and was always quick to get back to me about all the questions I had. Thanks again and ill see you guys in a little over a month in Esteli!