On Wednesday, June 5th, FineTobaccoNYC hosted a cigar and spirits pairing at the Carnegie Club, one of New York’s most iconic cigar bars. The complimentary event, billed as “Straight Up & Toasted,” featured the Reinado Cigars Grand Empire Reserve and Rough Rider bourbon from Long Island Spirits.
About 150 guests attended the free event, enjoying cigars and bourbon well into the evening.
Other features of the night included live music, giveaways of a box of Reinado cigars, a bottle of Rough Rider single barrel bourbon, and other accessory raffle items.
The event was such a success that FineTobaccoNYC and the Carnegie Club are now planning another “Straight Up & Toasted” event. Special thanks to Reinado Cigars and Long Island Spirits.
To get invites to events like Straight Up & Toasted, sign up for our email list. Click here to sign up.
Press releases give great exposure, lead to valuable business leads, and boost SEO.
Year after year, dozens of new boutique cigar companies hoping to make it big enter the market. But as we all know, cracking the nut that is the cigar industry is difficult. So what separates the winners from the losers? One major business component successful cigar companies include in their strategy is the writing and distribution of press releases.
This applies to small, mid, and large sized companies. Every cigar business owner that is serious about promoting and growing their business should have some sort of strategy for press releases, especially before major conventions like IPCPR.
Here are 6 reasons you should write a press release:
1. Your new product won’t announce itself
So you’ve just blended a new cigar and you put it to market. But who knows about it? Don’t expect cigar shops or customers to be familiar with your brand if you aren’t putting your best foot forward. Small and mid-sized businesses don’t have the luxury of a large audience of customers and media professionals to catch and amplify product announcements posted on your Facebook page. A press release, distributed to the right people, will ensure that cigar related websites and the blogosphere are getting your new product announcement out to the widest possible audience.
2. Press Releases boost website SEO
Press releases often include anchor text and hyperlinked urls to your company website. When google crawls the internet and finds 15 more websites linking your website with terms like “cigars,” “cigar industry,” “maduro cigars,” etc, Google interprets this as your page being an authority on that keyword, and places your website higher in searches for those terms. That boost in search can drive new sales and lead to important business opportunities.
3. Your Press Release will go social
Many websites, especially blogs, post Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr updates whenever a new post goes up on their site. If your product announcement is posted on ten blogs, or referenced in blog posts, you will achieve substantial social media exposure, earning you more brand awareness that can lead to sales and other opportunities.
4. The world wants to hear about your product or announcement
It’s easy for a small business to feel like no one is listening, but those businesses often aren’t talking. The truth is, there are tens of thousands of cigar enthusiasts who are looking for the next great cigar. If you are in the business, then you believe in your product. Why not tell them about it?
5. You need the media to notice
When press releases are distributed, important media contacts will be made aware of your announcement. This often results in requests for interviews, product reviews, and other kinds of coverage. It is this coverage that will push your product to new markets and territories.
6. You need consistent exposure
Do you remember that company that you read about six months ago and never heard from again? Neither do I. By using press releases to announce new products, new hirings, or new branding strategies, you build brand equity. This is especially helpful for small or mid-sized cigar or spirits brands trying to open new accounts. If a shop owner has seen your company appear often online, he/she is much more likely to know about your brand and thus more likely to trust your product and place an order. Whiskey companies like Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich, Chivas, and others do this well – take a look.
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So those are a few reasons you need to write and distribute a press release. Here are the reasons why you should work with me:
I deliver professional quality writing
I’ve been writing press releases for a long time, and they stack up well against any boutique PR firm. (ask me for samples)
I have my own distribution lists
Expect to pay at least $250 just to distribute your press release on any mainstream newswire service – these services may or may not deliver your releases to the right place. I have distribution lists of local cigar shops, bloggers, media contacts, and news websites. On average, my press releases are published on 10-15 cigar related websites.
I work one on one to craft a release that is consistent with your branding and message
You don’t want to hire a writer who will put your brand through a cookie-cutter press release template. I will meet with you in person or over the phone/email to hear the full story on your announcement and refine the release to your specifications.
My work in the cigar and spirits industry gives me an edge over other PR firms
I know how cigar and spirits companies want to represent themselves better than a non-industry writer. This means I’ll get you a release that you are more satisfied with, faster than anyone else.
Is it time for you to invest in a smarter public relations/marketing strategy? If so, send me an email for my work samples, rates, and any other questions you have. I also work with non-cigar/spirits related companies and individuals, so if you want a great press release but aren’t in cigars or spirits, I’ve got you covered.
Still Looking for the Perfect Father’s Day Gift? Look no further! On July 27th from 1-4pm, S2 welcomes Rocky and Nish Patel to The Garden for our first Cigar Social. The three hour event not only includes a meet and greet with the cigar kings themselves, but also a guest appearance by former Yankee and Met, Gary Sheffield who recently teamed up with the Patels to launch his limited edition cigar, HR500 TORO.
Men’s Tickets are $55 and include 3 Premium Rocky Patel Cigars: XEN TORO by Nish Patel, Meritage Sungrown TORO by Rocky Patel and the Decade TORO by Rocky Patel. The $25 Women’s ticket includes 1 Premium XEN TORO cigar by Nish Patel.
In addition to cigars, both tickets include:
Unlimited BBQ
Open Beer & Sangria
Live Entertainment by Sal Manzo
Whiskey Tasting Stations by Jack Daniels, Jack Daniels Honey, Gentleman Jack, Southern Comfort, Avion & Avion Espresso
Meet and Greet with Rocky and Nish Patel
Special Guest Appearance by Gary Sheffield
Raffles and Giveaways
Studio Square has partnered with LightersDirect, who will be providing custom event cigar cutters as well as raffles for amazing cigar lover prizes! If you attended SMOKE in May, you know this alone is a great way to treat dad! Sponsors include sponsors: Rocky Patel, S Prime Steakhouse, Heineken, Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort.
Order tickets today, as this event will sell out quickly! Pre Sale tickets are available at www.cigarsocial2013.eventbrite.com
A quick 10 minute train ride from midtown, can make The Garden @ Studio Square NYC your destination to gather, eat and drink in modern merriment. For more information, visit www.studiosquarenyc.com
About Studio Square NYC
As part of the massive Studio Square NYC event and entertainment complex, The Garden @ Studio Square brings the spirit and traditions of an open-air German beer garden into the modern era. Encompassing over 30,000 square feet, The Garden is made up of two large indoor areas and an expansive cobblestone courtyard, a 160’ Super Screen, a covered patio that hugs the edge of the courtyard, featuring six additional bar stations as well as our Garden Grill counter where guests can order from our extensive selection of tasty items.
In our last post, we looked at the importance and uses of the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+. In this article, we’ll look at how to set up and launch your page, as well as a few practices for managing an effective (read:profitable) Facebook page.
This post is an introduction to best practices on Facebook. This post does not cover the nuances of Facebook advertising, integration with mailing lists and other social tools, or analytics – if you have a specific question on that, email me.
So now to get started. Order of operations is important with social media, so the next few posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ will discuss setup and launch separately.
Setup
Cigar shops should register as “Local Business or Place.” Otherwise, register as a brand or product.
Setting up a Facebook page is fairly simple. First, go to this page to start your setup. After you have selected your page type, here are a few important steps:
Do NOT invite all of your current friends and contacts to “like” your page before it is completely set up. You have one chance at a first impression with your most loyal contacts, so you must make it count.
Include all business contact information in the relevant information sections. Everything. This means phone, website, email, physical address, p.o. box, fax. Everything.
Upload your company logo as your profile picture.
Upload a striking/interesting image for a cover photo that represents your product well. Make sure your image is high definition and not blurry (if it is a photo).
Add admins to your page using the “manage admin permissions” page in your page settings. Note: admins must have already “liked” the page.
Now, post your first update! This should be a message welcoming fans to your new page. Include a photo or group of photos with this post. I also suggest posting some other media rich content (videos, photos, audios, online interviews) for your audience to see when you launch the page.
Launch
Now you are ready to announce your page to the world! This is a critical step in getting early momentum. But keep in mind: the suggestions below can be used at any time, so they are still a good idea even if your page is already established.
Go to your company Facebook page, and invite all of your friends to like the page. If you are using Google Chrome, download the “Facebook Select All” extension so that you can invite hundreds of friends to like your page at one time.
Ask your employees to like the page. Then, copy/paste step 1, email it to everyone in your company, and ask them to invite their friends.
Use the “invite contact list” tool on Facebook to invite everyone in your email contact book to like your page.
If you have a company email list for customers, clients, fans, etc, upload that contact list (must be .csv file) to Facebook to invite all of those contacts to like your page.
Post a status update on your personal Facebook asking your friends to like your page.
Launch a Facebook give-away contest that encourages users to like your page.
Post a link to your Facebook page on your website, blog, and other social media profiles.
If you follow these steps , the next 48 will bring a spike in interaction, pageviews, and page likes.
Build
Now it is time to build engagement with your page and attract a wider audience. Here are some do’s and don’ts for building your Facebook audience:
Do
Post at least once a day.
Post creative and friendly content that gives fans an inside look at your company or product.
Post images, videos, and links to interesting content, always writing a caption to explain the importance of the content.
Ask your fans questions that get at the heart of their experience of your product.
Offer special, exclusive deals to your Facebook fans.
Respond to any comment, concern, or critique within 24 hours.
Ask your fans to connect with you on other social networking sites.
Host contests and other giveaways to encourage word of mouth reach.
Announce new products and tell customers where they can buy your products.
Use Facebook advertising to increase your fans and reach new customers (detailed explanation on that here).
Be creative and don’t take yourself too seriously!
Don’t
Continually repost marketing materials (this content gets very boring and will cause people to unlike your page).
Post irrelevant content about politics, religion, or humor.
Post content presenting any other company, person, or group of persons in a negative light.
Post updates expressing frustrations. Keep it positive.
Let your page become out of date. This reflects very poorly on your company.
To give an idea of what good content looks like, and how good content leads to more exposure, take these two event posts from My Father Cigars and Camacho Cigars:
Obviously, the fact that Camacho has 20x more Facebook fans has something to do with the difference in engagement. But even a cursory glance indicates that taking time to craft a post will result in more likes, shares, and comments. The post by Camacho Cigars features a well thought out image, a clear explanation of the post, and a link to the event page. Additionally, a fan commented and received a swift reply. In contrast, the My Father post above is plain, and very long. The post was also reposted three times in a row, making the My Father facebook page look uninviting.
Of course, that’s just one example. Each company has a different strategy for creating content. The challenge is to refine your strategy by listening to your audience and understanding what it wants.
To learn more about how to create the best content on Facebook, I suggest reading these articles:
There you have it. How to set up, launch, and maintain an effective and profitable Facebook page. It is true, this is only the tip of the iceberg–we haven’t covered how Facebook advertising can shoot sales through the roof or how to integrate Facebook into your broader marketing strategy, but this post is a good start. The key is to stay creative, resourceful, and attentive to your audience.
If you follow the instructions above, you should be well on your way to building a successful and profitable Facebook page. In our next post, we’ll look at some of the best practices for using Twitter to sell products and build valuable business relationships.
This review is a long time coming. Anyone who has been following FineTobaccoNYC knows that since ordering my first five pack, I’ve been a huge fan, even advocate of this cigar. Why? Because, though it is clearly a copycat of the Padron Anniversario series, I believe that the Nica Libre 1990 is unequivocally the best value cigar out there (I buy boxes at under $2 a stick). And yes, it stacks up well to Padron for those wondering.
And with that, we’ll get to the review, shall we?
Blend Specifics
Wrapper: San Andreas Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Appearance & Construction
The Nica Libre 1990 is a solidly constructed box press with a rich brown maduro wrapper. The band is very similar to the band on the Padron Anniversario series, but instead of being double-banded it is a single band. The draw is consistently perfect on these cigars, providing for lots of smoke. Also of note is that the cigar is triple capped – you don’t find that often on cigars this cheap.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
As other reviewers have noted, this cigar opens up with a medium bodied profile full of coffee, black pepper, cocoa, and earth. This profile is very comparable to the Padron Anniversario 1964. As this cigar progresses into the first inch, the peppery texture is complemented by a soft, creamy texture on the nose.
Into the second third, the body and strength pick up, along with the black pepper notes, leaving some tingling on my tongue. A few burn issues throughout this smoke, but those are not characteristic of this cigar. Nearing the final third, a few more notes emerge, including a nice woodiness and a slight leatheriness. From there, the smoke heats up a bit at the end – not the most enjoyable ending.
Conclusion
At under $2 stick on CigarBid.com, this cigar is unbeatable. I’ve heard this opinion restated over and over again through social media, whether it is on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram. The Verdict? Do yourself a favor and buy a box of these cigars. You won’t regret it.
Fans of Irish Whiskey have something to celebrate. A new distillery has been granted the first license in over 130 years to distill spirits in Northern Ireland. The distillery opens at a time when whiskey distilleries are opening up around the world to meet the strong demand in the distilled spirits market.
Echlinville Distillery
Echlinville House, Gransha Road, Kircubbin, Co Down BT22 1AJ
History made as a second Northern Irish distillery starts operations
Echlinville Distillery has now been granted the first licence to distil spirits in Northern Ireland in over 130 years by HM Customs and Excise.
The granting of this crucially important licence was announced today by Shane Braniff, a local business man from the Ards, who launched the ever successful Feckin Irish Whiskey brand in 2005.
The licence award coincides with planning approval for a new state-of-the art distillery complex on the Echlinville Estate, just outside Kircubbin on the Ards Peninsula.The investment planned will include a visitors’ centre, restaurant, bar, distillation hall, maturing warehousing and museum.
Mr Braniff, outlining his plans, said: “We have been planning this distillery now since 2005. It will bring many tangible benefits to the Ards Peninsula in terms of additional employment and as an attraction for tourists and other visitors.
“The success we are enjoying with the Feckin Irish Whiskey, particularly in the US, has led us to invest in this new distillery. As our experience with Feckin has demonstrated, demand for Irish Whiskey is growing strongly in global markets. In fact, Irish whiskey is now the fastest growing brown spirit worldwide.
“Our plan is to continue with Feckin Irish Whiskey, the unique Feckin Spiced Irish Whiskey and then develop a range of drinks that can be sold almost immediately without having to wait the three years for our whiskey to mature, and finally to develop a premium/super premium malt whiskey.
“It is great that Echlinville Distillery is now up and running. We have had equipment in place since last Christmas but could not even turn it on until now. The road ahead is not going to be an easy one for us. Our competitors are mostly large Cooperation’s with millions of pounds/ dollars to spend in marketing and design. We are going to have to think outside the box in every approach we take with this business.
“We are located on the Ards Peninsula which boasts a very unique micro climate and is well suited to the production of whiskey. It may be the most suited location in the whole of Ireland, Scotland and the rest of the UK. I do believe this gives us an edge. We have the experience and the skills in place along with some great equipment to produce some of the best tasting whiskey’s ever experienced .
“In addition, we have a longstanding distribution agreement in the US with World Spirits, a division of Minneapolis-based Phillips Distilling Company. This gives us access to an established distribution network that covers virtually every state in America.
“No business has any right to success. It must be earned. I believe we have the best location, we will employ the best people, we must engage with the best partners and finally we must produce the best possible product with no compromising whatsoever to quality.”
The new Echlinville Distillery is already registered as an Invest Northern Ireland client and has received some assistance to date in the development of its business plan, marketing strategies and new product development.
Notes
Echlinville Distillery takes its name from the Echlinville Estate, a graded B1 listed site of great historical importance, which was owned during the 18th and 19th century by the Echlin family, who originally moved to Northern Ireland in the year 1613 when Robert Echlin, originally from Fife in Scotland, took up his post as Bishop of Down and Connor.
The Echlin family through this period in time were very influencial and powerful, and in 1779 one of the bishop’s descendants, Charles Echlin, formed the Echlinvale Volunteers with another well-known individual as their chaplin, William Steele Dickson. Mr Dickson later became heavily involved with the United Irish Rising of 1798.
The Echlinville apple tree which can still be purchased in Ireland and the UK also originated from this stately home.
Echlinville Distillery has already planted around 100 acres of its own malted barley to be used exclusively in its own whiskey production, giving not only full traceability on raw materials, but also reducing the distillery’s carbon footprint. Echlinville whiskey will truly be the greenest of whiskeys.
On May 18th, I had the remarkable luck of being able to attend SMOKE: Whiskey, Cigar & BBQ Festival hosted by Studio Sq NYC, one of New York City’s top nightlife and large event venues. At the event, over 300 New York City cigar smokers gathered to enjoy great barbecue, cigars by Rocky Patel, and exceptional spirits from Jameson, Chivas, Glenlivet and more.
I arrived a few minutes late, but just in time to watch the skies open up and begin pouring rain on what was forecasted to be a beautiful sunny day. But the weather in this city has a way of changing at the last minute.
In any case, the event was moved inside – and by that I mean to a massive indoor/outdoor smoking space that was easily big enough for three hundred cigar smokers. I took a seat with my girlfriend inside and we traded thoughts on the Jameson Black Barrel and the Chivas 12. Then the live music started, followed by more food, raffles for cigar accessories and a humidor, and more.
Following the event, a big portion of the group moved downstairs to the S Prime Steakhouse for more drinks and more good times.
I want to give a shout out to Jennifer Barker and Steve for hosting such an amazing event, along with the awesome ostrich-leather cigar case. I also want to thank Rocky Patel cigars for the great complimentary cigars, and all of the spirits sponsors who attended the event!
Studio Sq will be having more events in the future, and if they are sponsored by FineTobaccoNYC, you can hear about future events from us by signing up for our event emails!
A great Facebook post by Drew Estate Cigars shows how social can lead to awareness, brand buzz, and sales.
In the first post in this series, we looked at why social media should be an important part of your marketing strategy, as well as a few of the (bad) reasons that so many cigar companies have ignored utilizing social media to engage their customers and boost sales.
In this post, we’ll look at a few of the important platforms to utilize, as well as some basic principles for use.
But first, for business owners who have set up their Facebook and Twitter accounts, linked the two, and called it a day, a word of caution: presence alone won’t cut it. No matter how similar some social platforms might seem on first glance, they each cater to different audiences, and also have different standards for content.
“Pinterest and Fancy, for example, might seem similar because both rely on visual collage boards. However, 97% of all U.S. Pinterest users are women using it primarily as a source of inspiration, while 60% of all Fancy members are males interested in learning about new products. These differences are crucial, and they illustrate the importance of creating unique campaigns for different platforms.”
Like any public speaker would tell you: know your audience. Only then can you cater to it.
To use social media effectively, cigar companies should have a compelling brand presence on these platforms:
Engage
By virtue of its over 1 billion users, Facebook is still the dominant force in social media marketing. Advertising is effective and relatively cheap, and word of mouth referrals through user interaction can be very helpful.
Brands represent themselves on Facebook using company pages. They work very similarly to a Facebook profile, but with a few key differences, including:
Pages can advertise to unconnected users. Personal profiles cannot.
Pages are by default open to the public.
Pages offer administrators key information in the “insights” panel.
A good Facebook page will tell a company story to using pictures, videos, and other unique content. Do not simply repost marketing materials or content from Twitter. Many brands are in the habit of this, and as a result have low interaction and actually lose followers over time. Your Facebook content should be unique, carry a strong personality, and present a cohesive image of your brand to your followers. To do this, be sure to present content exclusive to Facebook, instead of just borrowing text, images, and links from your website.
Use Facebook to:
Broadcast company announcements (new products, etc) to fans.
Announce special sales.
Post behind-the-scenes content (pictures of the factory, office, parties, etc) to increase interaction and spread via word of mouth.
Create engagement to fuel referrals.
Converse
Twitter is all about conversation. Because it is an open platform, any user can contact another user simply by tweeting at him using the @ mention. Similarly, users can send direct messages to each other, which can be particularly useful for connecting with customers, building relationships, and bringing them into your retail location.
Twitter is also incredibly fast moving. On Facebook, some estimates suggest that while a Facebook post might have an average life span of 5 or more hours, a single tweet clocks in at about 45 minutes before it is buried. With so many tweets, it is important to post more often on Twitter to stay a part of the conversation.
The structural differences between Twitter and Facebook make for huge differences in strategy, and are why reposting Facebook content on Twitter (or vice versa) is harmful to your brand. We’ll talk more about Twitter in a later post.
Use Twitter to:
Interact one on one with customers and potential customers – greatly increases referrals and brand loyalty.
Answer customer service complaints – increases brand loyalty and limits damage done by unhappy customer.
Share important company news announcements – keeps your Twitter audience in the know
Make new business connections – no need for an introduction, just join the conversation and watch the relationships grow.
Entice
Available only on mobile phones, Instagram is a community of photographers, hobbyists, and life-lovers that share the best moments of their lives. Since cigars are all about the good life, it makes intuitive sense that Instagram would have a large cigar community. And it does. Every day, thousands of cigar smokers post pictures on Instagram. By reaching out to this community and posting unique, beautiful, or behind the scenes cigar related photos, you will build an audience that is very aware of your product and (if your product is good) very likely to buy your product in the future.
When I work with cigar companies, Instagram is a platform that I really focus on because it is so easy to convert an Instagram follower to a customer. Often times all it takes is for me to ask a smoker that commented on my photo if he has ever tried my brand for him to express enthusiasm for buying my cigars. But the real magic isn’t in the resulting business transaction—the magic is when that same user posts a photo of my cigars a few days later, and I see his friends asking him where they can buy some for themselves! That’s the power of social referrals.
Use Instagram to:
Entice followers to buy your product.
Follow up with customers after they visit or purchase.
Proactively engage your customers and followers.
Inform
Relatively speaking, Google+ doesn’t have a large user base. Your customers, in fact, probably aren’t using Google+ consistently.
So what makes it so important? Simple: your Google+ page is almost guaranteed a top search result on Google searches, which provides a great opportunity to put your best foot forward in a top Google search result. If you load your Google+ page with links to your business website, you’ll also get a significant SEO boost for your website.
Google+ is now also integrated in to other important Google tools like Google Maps and Google Places. When someone finds your business on Google Maps and clicks “More Info,” that user is now sent to your Places page, which pulls its information from your Google+ business page. So, no Google+ page means:
Lower SEO score (less traffic to website).
Probable blank page on Google Places.
A big opportunity missed to make a good first impression on a Google search.
By the way, this applies to everyone, not just cigar companies. If you are an actor, a freelancer, or a big company, you need to set up your Google+ page… now. If you still aren’t convinced that you need to utilize this great, free online boost, read this and this.
Use Google+ to:
Get an immediate SEO boost for your company website.
Inform casual searchers about your company, location, products, etc.
Place a positive, relevant link on the top of a search result for your company.
Interact with customers on Google+.
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That is a basic overview of the importance and uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+. Of course, it is important here to note that to manage social media successfully, you must identify upcoming trends in social media and be prepared to expand to new platforms. Platforms like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and YouTube are all important and can serve luxury brands well. But small and even midsized businesses rarely have a full time social media team that can suit the needs of posting across five or ten platforms. In my experience it is best to choose only the platforms that will best serve business, and then build brand equity from there.
Now that you have a general idea of the uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+, our next post will look at some specific strategies to a) build a large audience, b) increase engagement, and c) make sales.
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The Burn Naples is another in a long line of cigars by the famous Patel family. Named after Rocky Patel’s world-class lounge in Florida, the Burn Naples is a Honduran puro, a blend which always raises eyebrows.
BlendSpecifics
Size: 6 1/2 x 52
Wrapper: Honduran
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Honduran
Appearance & Construction
The first thing I notice is the strong cedar, spicy sweetness and granola off of the foot of this cigar. I also notice the gorgeous construction. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the presentation of this cigar, but per usual, no construction flaws and a great draw.
Flavor & SmokeCharacteristics
This cigar kicks off mild, with a shy profile. Wood, spice on the retro hale. Some nuts as well. Not exactly a ton going on, which makes for an underwhelming initial experience. By about a quarter in, however, the strength has picked up, and a sweet grassiness emerges. The white ash holds well over an inch.
The second third is where this cigar comes alive. The strength increases and a delicious chocolate note emerges. Right beside this change is a tangy flavor that is unique, though not thoroughly enjoyable.
In the final third, this tanginess increases and the body picks up to a solid medium. I also note a bitterness that isn’t very enjoyable. By the end of this cigar, I’m left wanting.
Conclusion
Though I have long been a fan of Rocky Patel’s offerings, I just can’t say that the Burn did it for me. At times, the flavors shone clear as day, but all too often I sat wondering just what I was supposed to be tasting. Still, it’s not a bad cigar. I’d just recommend trying some other blends like the 15th Anniversary, Decade, Olde World Reserve, or Vintage 1992 first.
May 28, 2013 (Las Vegas, NV)—Enjoyment is in the details. Whether it is the finely designed cutter or lighter, the hand crafted humidor, a good drink, or the perfect music, the small things count. Yet one aspect of the art of cigar enjoyment that is often missed is the art itself.
David Gerena, a midwestern based artist, wants to change that. A long time painter and cigar enthusiast, Gerena creates art to elevate the smoking experience. And now, Gerena and CigarArt.net are proud to announce plans to bring high quality prints and original artwork to IPCPR 2013 in Las Vegas.
“When I’m painting I disappear into the moment and leave the world behind,” Gerena said. “Smoking a fine cigar and painting one combines two of my great joys in life, so I’m excited to share my paintings with the larger community at IPCPR 2013.”
At the convention, CigarArt.net and David Gerena will display a new painting created specially for IPCPR.
In Gerena’s years as a cigar smoker and painter, his creative talents have taken him from drawing comics and sketches to painting portraits of the likes of Liana Fuente. His art has appeared on numerous cigar blogs and websites and is available for viewing and purchase.
Enjoyment truly is in the details. Visit the CigarArt.net IPCPR booth for details, or log on to cigarart.net.
