Cigar Coop Prime Time Show

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #13: Micallef Black Toro

The #13 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Micallef Black Toro. If there is one cigar company that has made the best use of its Ambassador group, it would have to be Micallef Cigars. The Micallef Ambassadors group is an integral part of providing input to its products. One piece of feedback that Micallef heard frequently from its Ambassadors group is that it needed a cigar that was fuller in terms of strength and body compared to most of the medium strength and body cigars that existed in the portfolio. For the Micallef Black, Micallef incorporated this feedback and developed a blend to on the fuller side. Micallef Black had a soft launch just prior to the 2023 Premium Cigar Association Trade Show and had a full launch at the Trade Show itself. It's the Toro size of the Micallef Black that landed a spot on this year's countdown.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-rbP

 

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #14: HVC Selección No. 1 Natural Poderosos (Audio)

The #14 2023 Cigar of the Year is the HVC Selección No. 1 Natural Poderosos. Back in 2022, HVC Cigars released a Maduro offering known as the HVC Selección No. 1 Maduro. While HVC Cigars has been a company in business for over a decade, the No. 1 is significant. This is because, in 2022, HVC Cigars moved into its own factory, Fabrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. Before that, many of HVC Cigars’ blends had been coming out of the Aganorsa factory. The Selección No. 1 gets its name because it was the first cigar from that factory. In 2023, HVC Cigars added another blend under the HVC Selección No. 1 line known as the HVC Selección No. 1 Natural. It's the Natural offering that lands on this year's Countdown.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-rb9

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #14: HVC Selección No. 1 Natural Poderosos

The #14 2023 Cigar of the Year is the HVC Selección No. 1 Natural Poderosos. Back in 2022, HVC Cigars released a Maduro offering known as the HVC Selección No. 1 Maduro. While HVC Cigars has been a company in business for over a decade, the No. 1 is significant. This is because, in 2022, HVC Cigars moved into its own factory, Fabrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. Before that, many of HVC Cigars’ blends had been coming out of the Aganorsa factory. The Selección No. 1 gets its name because it was the first cigar from that factory. In 2023, HVC Cigars added another blend under the HVC Selección No. 1 line known as the HVC Selección No. 1 Natural. It's the Natural offering that lands on this year's Countdown.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-rb9

 

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #15: E.P. Carrillo INCH Nicaragua No. 60 (Audio)

The #15 2023 Cigar of the Year is the E.P. Carrillo INCH Nicaragua No. 60. In 2012, E.P. Carrillo launched a line focused on large ring gauge cigars known as the INCH Series. Large ring gauge cigars are nothing new to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo as he was considered a pioneer in this area while he was with La Gloria Cubana. Released in a Maduro and a Natural (Sumatra), it quickly became one of E.P. Carrillo’s most successful lines. In 2022, a new regular production addition to the INCH line, the INCH Nicaragua, was added.

As the name indicates, INCH Nicaragua is not only a 100% Nicaraguan cigar, but it's a cigar that's made in Nicaragua - and it's made at the Plasencia factory in Nicaragua. This marked the first time E.P. Carrillo worked in a factory outside its Tabacalera La Alianza facility. Since then, E.P. Carrillo has done the Allegiance at the Oliva factory (which landed on the Countdown at #22) and Short Run 2023 out of Oscar Valladares' factory.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-raO

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #15: E.P. Carrillo INCH Nicaragua No. 60

The #15 2023 Cigar of the Year is the E.P. Carrillo INCH Nicaragua No. 60. In 2012, E.P. Carrillo launched a line focused on large ring gauge cigars known as the INCH Series. Large ring gauge cigars are nothing new to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo as he was considered a pioneer in this area while he was with La Gloria Cubana. Released in a Maduro and a Natural (Sumatra), it quickly became one of E.P. Carrillo’s most successful lines. In 2022, a new regular production addition to the INCH line, the INCH Nicaragua, was added.

As the name indicates, INCH Nicaragua is not only a 100% Nicaraguan cigar, but it's a cigar that's made in Nicaragua - and it's made at the Plasencia factory in Nicaragua. This marked the first time E.P. Carrillo worked in a factory outside its Tabacalera La Alianza facility. Since then, E.P. Carrillo has done the Allegiance at the Oliva factory (which landed on the Countdown at #22) and Short Run 2023 out of Oscar Valladares' factory.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-raO

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #16: 601 La Bomba Warhead VIII by Espinosa Cigars (Audio)

The #16 2023 Cigar of the Year is the 601 La Bomba Warhead VIII by Espinosa Cigars.

One of the most popular annual limited edition series of cigars to hit the market over the past decade has been the 601 La Bomba Warhead Series. This series has a great track record of success, landing seven different times. Warhead is an extension of the original 601 La Bomba line, but it replaces the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper with a Broadleaf wrapper. As the name Warhead suggests, it is intended to be a stronger and bolder cigar. Each installment of the Warhead has featured a different size with a tweaked blend adjusted to that size as well as a different set of artwork. Warhead made its debut in 2013 and, with a couple of exceptions, has maintained an annual release schedule. The eighth installment came out in 2022 – appropriately titled Warhead VIII. This introduced a 6 x 60 box-pressed vitola into the series.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-rao

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #16: 601 La Bomba Warhead VIII by Espinosa Cigars

The #16 2023 Cigar of the Year is the 601 La Bomba Warhead VIII by Espinosa Cigars.

One of the most popular annual limited edition series of cigars to hit the market over the past decade has been the 601 La Bomba Warhead Series. This series has a great track record of success, landing seven different times. Warhead is an extension of the original 601 La Bomba line, but it replaces the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper with a Broadleaf wrapper. As the name Warhead suggests, it is intended to be a stronger and bolder cigar. Each installment of the Warhead has featured a different size with a tweaked blend adjusted to that size as well as a different set of artwork. Warhead made its debut in 2013 and, with a couple of exceptions, has maintained an annual release schedule. The eighth installment came out in 2022 – appropriately titled Warhead VIII. This introduced a 6 x 60 box-pressed vitola into the series.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-rao

Prime Time Episode 291 Audio: Lee Marsh, Stolen Throne Cigars

For Episode 291, we are proud to welcome Lee Marsh, founder of Stolen Throne Cigars a our special guest.

Lee and his company have been quiety building up a nice portfolio of offerings and tonight we will learn Lee’s story and learn about Stolen Throne Cigars.

Plus, we will have our Alec Bradley Live True Segment, FSG Beef Question of the Night, Tabacalera USA Ties That Bind, and Espinosa Today in Sports History. For our Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Deliberation segment, we will look at the “Cigars on the Year End List Graveyard”. This will focus on those cigars that have landed on EOY lists that have vanished or become endangered species.

Prime Time Episode 291: Lee Marsh, Stolen Throne Cigars

For Episode 291, we are proud to welcome Lee Marsh, founder of Stolen Throne Cigars a our special guest.

Lee and his company have been quiety building up a nice portfolio of offerings and tonight we will learn Lee’s story and learn about Stolen Throne Cigars.

Plus, we will have our Alec Bradley Live True Segment, FSG Beef Question of the Night, Tabacalera USA Ties That Bind, and Espinosa Today in Sports History. For our Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Deliberation segment, we will look at the “Cigars on the Year End List Graveyard”. This will focus on those cigars that have landed on EOY lists that have vanished or become endangered species.

2023 Cigar of the Year Countdown (Coop’s List) #17: La Palina KB Part Three (Audio)

The #17 2023 Cigar of the Year is the La Palina KB Part Three. The story of La Palina’s KB is quite interesting from both the La Palina end and the Cigar Coop end.

In 2011, La Palina Cigars introduced its second line, El Diario. La Palina positioned El Diario as an everyday smoke and was one meant to be more affordable than its ultra-premium Family Series. El Diario went on to capture Cigar Coop’s #1 Cigar of the Year for 2011. The following year, La Palina unveiled a 4 1/4 x 40 petit corona line extension with a more robust tweaked blend known as KB. KB stands for “Kill Bill,” and it was named because the prototype of the sample given to La Palina owner Bill Paley was so strong that it threw him for a loop. Later, La Palina released a second KB size in the form of a 6 x 40 vitola, the KB II.

Fast forward to 2021, and La Palina decided to discontinue the El Diario line while launching a new line around KB. In addition to the KB and KB II sizes coming over, La Palina added two new sizes: Part Three (5 x 52) and Part Four (6 x 54). It’s the Part Three vitola that lands on this year’s Countdown

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r9P