The first day of the show is always the busiest, and boy was I in for a treat working the Camacho booth that day. When I first arrived on the floor it was absolutely packed, there was an unbelievable amount of retailers trying to get their orders in and take advantage of the first day specials. I was briefed on the specials and let go to help out with the customers from my Reps region. It was fun taking orders and learning more about Camacho while teaching others a few things.

   Eric - Me - Ray outside of the V-bar

After the show we attended the Camacho private party in the Venetian V-Bar. You had to have a wrist band to get in and be in the top 10 percentile in the nation for height…. not really but it sounded good because I’m 6′5″. Anyway the parties were awesome, every night after the show Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We would get in and be greeted at the door with a mojito and a wonderful Camacho cigar. Find our place to sit or stand amongst the thick clouds of smoke.

Front left to Right: Tommy Z Man, Ray, Greg, Me, Eric, 2 guys we met that night

Tuesday night Tommy Boy, Tommy Z man, Eric, and Ray were all sitting around telling jokes and drinking our mojitos(above)… what a memorable experience. I think… from what I can remember anyway. haha Those martinis were strong I tell you!

The CAO party was unbelivable as well, Lynard Skynard was there jamming up some “Freebird” and “That Smell” while were were trying to jam up to the bar for our free drinks. The lines were crazy unless you had a bald hefty looking friend like I did. Even though he did have his fair share that night, and I mean FAIR. I guess I did as well… But i digress. Skynard was awesome as I saw him last year here in Dallas and It wasn’t even close to being as good.

There were dancers all over the place, by the pool, on top of ledges just dancing away. Some big drunk old guys would go up and start dancing with them which was hilarious. It was a great time that I will always remember, even if I don’t remember most of it.

Good ‘ol Vegas.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

IPCPR The Show Part 2

I was working for a broker helping him take orders and deal with customers but I also had a retailer badge which got me into the CAO party among other things. The smoke inside the building was thick.

I brought home so many samples of cigars its crazy. Everything from the new LX2 from CAO to the La Riqueza from Tatuaje. Rene from Pepin was there rolling some delicious fresh rolled Havana VI and Pepin Blues. I got to smoke one and boy was it good.

There are so many new brands out there today it feels like another boom! All of the new brands were very willing to give samples of there stuff just to get their name out there. I will be smoking and reviewing a lot of this new stuff here so be on the lookout for it.

I have so much to say about the show that I will have to break it into parts. Part 2 will entail all that went on at the CAO party and Camacho private parties. Stay tuned!

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

IPCPR Trade Show - Im Back! Part 1

My Rating: 3.50Stars

M.S.R.P:  $5.00/Stick

These things are all the craze. You would have thought they were blended and rolled by Don Pepin Garcia, or Pete Johnson himself. No, these are hand crafted by the Oliva cigar family out of Nicaragua with a novel concept in mind; get the best part out of the cigar and bypass the other stuff. This was the original concept of the Nub brand. Since a lot of smokers claim to fall in love with the last third of their cigars more often, Oliva came up with a way for the smoker to have their cake and eat it too.

The particular vitola i had was the 358, are real short smoke that had some good flavors. The wrapper was pretty clean with hardly any veins. A nice looking cigar with a simple band. On inital light up I found a little pepper note, and some cedar. The cigar was smoking great until i got to the last couple inches. The burn was not the greatest as i had to touch it up several times. It started burning hot, and I wasn’t about to smoke a cigar that was tasting like burnt tires. All in all i had great hopes for this cigar… It’s not bad but It’s not worth all the hype either.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

Nub Habano 358 Cigar Review

#4 (5.2″ x 43)

First let me say that I have not smoked too many seconds. Why not? Well I’m not sure, I just thought they would be horrible with bad tobacco. Boy was I wrong. I am really blown away by how good these cigars are. When they say they are basically the real thing just much cheaper, they are not BSing you.

This particular cigar is from the La Aurora family. I believe it is from the original LA blend Cameroon. These cigar have very small flaws on them, some of them I noticed had sun spots on them. Some had a few veins visible but believe me none of that had anything to do with the smoking experience these produce.

The smoke itself that I had was the #4 corona size. It produced ample amounts of smoke and the flavor was wonderful. It had some cedar and a touch of sweet notes. I would recommend this cigar to anyone, especially at the price point. Around $1.00/Stick.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

La Aurora Seconds 2nds #4 Cigar Review

My Rating: 4.00 Stars

M.S.R.P: $3.50/Stick

La Gloria Cubana is a classic brand blended by Ernesto Carillo. They are a very unique cigar in terms of flavor and are one of my favorite brands. I have been smoking La Gloria Cubanas for around 10 years now. The blend to me has not changed. I credit this to the fact that Ernesto is a very fine blender and knows what works. Right now Ernesto has 4 different domestic blends of the LGC, the regular blend, Serie R, Reserva Figurado, and the Serie R Limitada.

Today I have the LGC Churchill. This is the regular blend of the line but is still a very good everyday smoke rounding out around $3.00/stick. The construction is always top notch with only a vein or two visible in the wrapper. Initial light up is of cedar and earth. This particular cigar also has some pepper notes. Not as many as i like but that is why they have the Serie R version. This cigar is a lot better with some age, so if you buy a box put it away for a couple of years and revisit this wonderful treat.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

La Gloria Cubana Churchill Cigar Review

My Rating: 5.00Stars

M.S.R.P: $8.00/Stick

The stage was set for a great review. I had just gotten to the Cock & Bull, a small resutrant in Dallas to meet up with some of my herfing buddies. I was finishing up smoking my La Aurora Preferido Torpedo Cameroon when i was pondering what next to smoke. I saw the beautiful 888 sitting there just waiting for me to grab it. The Preferido was getting kinda harsh so I bid it ado. I pulled the 888 from my traveldor and just smelled the foot mmm, coffee and licorice… I knew i was in for a treat.

As soon as i cut and lit this cigar and took the first puff i could taste that distinctive flavor these particular ciagrs give off. Rich chocolate, coffee, and earth. Wow, what a combo! The draw was perfect all the way down this cigar. The flavor never got dull and continued all the way through. This truly is a masterpiece cigar in my eyes. These a quickly becoming one of my favorite cigar brands. I would recommend this cigar to anyone who likes a full bodied, full flavored smoke.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

Illusione ~888~ Churchill Cigar Review

My rating: 4.50 Stars

This was one of the cigars in my fathers day lineup that I picked out special. I have a few of these left as they are very rare and only come out during the holidays. (See my #77 review). I am growing to like the anejo line more and more. The #77 shark is still my favorite though as I search for one even remotely close to it in the other numbers.

The cigar has a nice dark wrapper and a sweet peppery smell. The construction is top notch and so is the band. After I cut the head with my Xikar Xi and lit it up with my Element I could smell cedar and pepper. The first draw was of the same and it was very smooth and pleasing. The rest of the cigar was pretty much the same way, cedar notes and hints of pepper. The cigar had a razor sharp burn that never ran on me once. The big white clouds of smoke that this cigar produced were very nice indeed. As always I would recommend the Anejo line, If you can get your hands on them.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

A. Fuente Anejo 50 Robusto Cigar Review

I had high hopes for this cigar coming from such a famed cigar maker as Oliva. First of all after I lit it up I had a nasty burnt taste in my mouth. After the first few puffs I could tell that it was almost flavorless.

I got a very small hint of cedar but other than that it was just smoke. The burn was also horrible as it ran down 2 different sides and I had to constantly light it. I would not recommend this cigar to anyone, move on people.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet Corona cigar Quick Review

Today I have the short story Hemingway from Fuente. The cigar is a figurado shaped cameroon beauty when you take it out of the celophane. The wrapper was vein less and had a nice roll and straight cap. Many people swear by these smokes as an everyday because they are relatively cheap (around $5.00/stick) and they are small so you can smoke even when time may not permit. I had smoked a short story years ago so I decided it was time again. The cigar lit well and had an even burn from my table top Lotus lighter. I got a hint of sweetness along with lots of cedar from this cigar. Overall it was a good smoke, but just not really my cup of tea.

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

A. Fuente Hemingway Short Story Quick Review

Copyright © 2008 In The Humidor.com

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