Featured Cigars - June 2022

As the second-largest grower of tobacco in Nicaragua, the Oliva family's generations of experience in the industry has served them well. They grow some of the finest crops in the world and are known for using the most skilled rollers and blenders in the country to create legendary cigars, and the Oliva Saison Torpedo is nothing short of legendary. The remarkable blend used in this handmade consists of long-fillers that were all harvested...

Since its creation, the Padilla brand has continued to earn high ratings, receive top honors, and wow enthusiasts at the same time. Created by brothers Ernesto and Carlos Padilla, they are dedicated to perfection and use what they refer to as “lost or forgotten” old-Cuban traditions in order to create an outstanding premium handmade cigar. To them, attention to detail is paramount, so Ernesto and Carlos personally observe each cigar as it...

La Perla Habana is one of the most coveted labels in cigar history. The line featured this month was reborn almost a century after it was first produced. Sergio Cuevas and Doug Wood have created a cigar in which commitment, quality, and flavor are the sole concerns. Using closely guarded techniques to age and blend the tobaccos, these men have produced a cigar that is worthy of the name, the Pearl of Habana. The La Perla Habana White Pearl...

Erik Espinosa is well known in the industry for doing whatever he wants while going above and beyond to make sure the quality of his cigars are second to none. The Snakebite is one of the newer additions to his portfolio and boy is it tasty. This premium handmade is crafted at Espinosa’s very own La Zona factory in Nicaragua and has perfectly aged long-fillers from the volcanic soils of Estelí, Nicaragua. Securing them is a Nicaraguan binder...

By offering plenty of power tempered by a notable smoothness, the Obsidian sets a new standard for premium handmades. The dark, meaty blend consists of Cuban-seed long-fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. They deliver a wealth of dense tobacco flavor. Look at the foot of the cigar and you’ll note a combination of dark tobaccos (ligeros) in the core of the cigar, with a portion of lighter-colored tobacco (visos and secos) bunched...

In this third installment of the Syncro, AVO decided to do something a bit different than the other two cigars in this series that features Nicaraguan tobaccos; they went bigger, much bigger. The South American Ritmo (ritmo translating to ‘rhythm’ in Spanish) features a mind-blowing seven different tobaccos from all the major cigar countries. Handcrafted in the Dominican Republic, this stogie comes dressed in an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that...

We love the whole line of Man O’ War cigars but this is one for the books! The Man O' War Dark Aged Maduro is carefully blended by hand at AJ’s very own Tabacalera Fernandez in Estelí, Nicaragua using a rich blend of Nicaraguan Estelí and Ometepe, and Pennsylvania Broadleafs which is then secured by a Nicaraguan Habano binder. This bad boy is then completed with a rich, oily, and toothy Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper, leading to a smoke that is...

The Black Ops Berserker is from a name you might not be able to say three times fast, but the name Kaizad Hansotia has rapidly swept through the cigar industry. Known as the master blender behind the Gurkha brand, he's admired for his mastery of fine tobacco blending and creativity in developing attractive packaging for his cigars. To go a step farther, for the Black Ops, Hansotia has paired with the legendary Abdel “AJ” Fernandez and his...

The Holts never imagined that their little cigar company would achieve such success as quickly as they did. To say thank you to all the people that gave them a shot and kept coming back for more, they created the Kudzu Lustrum to be their crown jewel, featuring the best of the best tobaccos and production. Handcrafted in Nicaragua, this limited release Nicaraguan puro features a core of Nicaraguan tobaccos and a zesty Ometepe binder, and is...