On Tuesday, Jan. 23, Co-Founder of Tequila Avión, Jenna Fagnan, and Executive Director of Retail & Brand Development of Nat Sherman, Michael Herklots (above), partnered up to offer bartenders and media a special pairing experience with Tequila Avión and Nat Sherman cigars. While Scotch is the traditional choice, guests discovered the wonder of ultra-premium tequila pairings with fine cigars in an intimate setting within the Nat Sherman member’s only Johnson Room.
In order to guide guests through how to make the perfect cigar-tequila pairing, both Michael and Jenna presented two pairings: Tequila Avión Reposado was sampled neat with the Nat Sherman Metropolitan Union (Natural) cigar and Tequila Avión Añejo was sampled neat with the Nat Sherman Timeless (Nicaraguan) cigar.
Learn more about Nat Sherman on their website, or follow them on Twitter @nat42nd
As most FTNYC readers know, I’m a huge fan of Nat Sherman. Scratch that, it is my single favorite cigar lounge in New York City, and here is the reason, distilled into its simplest form:
The Nat Sherman team knows what kind of customer experience it stands for, and the team goes above and beyond to deliver that experience to customers.
What do I mean by “above and beyond?” I mean, they don’t just sell cigars – they sell an experience. Take SPIFF Wednesdays. If you visit Nat Sherman between about 4pm and 6:30pm on Wednesdays and spend $10 (basically, buy a cigar), Nat Sherman will treat you to a free manicure and shoeshine.
You heard right: free.
I dropped in last Wednesday with a friend to smoke a cigar and realized that I had dropped in on the right day! So, I grabbed a cigar (Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary toro) and sat down on the shoe shine chair. The shiner was friendly, professional, and did a fantastic job shining my shoes, all while I sat and smoked a cigar and conversed with my friend.
That is service you just don’t get at more than a handful of cigar lounges in the country.
Here’s a description of SPIIF from a recent Nat Sherman e-newsletter:
Come in and get Spiffy on us…EVERY Wednesday! Enjoy a complimentary manicure and shoeshine when you make a same-day in-store purchase of $10 or more.
SPIFF for Men, offers the quintessential experience for the modern man’s grooming needs. We offer one-stop shopping for all your traditional barbershop services like haircuts, straightedged shaves and shoeshines as well as hot towel treatments, waxes, manicures and pedicures.
It goes without saying that, next chance you get, drop by on a Wednesday and enjoy a shoe shine and manicure.
Nat Sherman, defining tobacco connoisseurship through a family tradition of innovation and expertly-curated tobacco products and accessories, is pleased to announce that Cigar Aficionado has selected the Nat Sherman Timeless Collection No. 2 as one of the 25 Best Cigars of the Year. Cigar Aficionado has proclaimed the cigar as “the best Nat Sherman cigar ever tasted,” ranking the cigar as No. 10 in its coveted annual list.
Nat Sherman Timeless No. 2 Timeless Collection
The Nat Sherman Timeless Collection (Dominican Republic – Matasa) is a full-bodied, medium-strength blend of tobaccos from three countries. The Dominican and Nicaraguan Fillers offer rich notes of espresso and roasted nuts, while the Hondurian wrapper is characterized by an earthiness that is rounded by subtle sweet notes on the finish.
Cigar Aficionado’s rigorous decision-making process begins by looking at more than 700 cigars tested throughout the year in both Cigar Aficionado and Cigar Insider. The top-scoring smokes go through a further blind-tasting where Cigar Aficionado’s tasting coordinator purchases cigars from known retailers, removes the bands and orchestrates an entirely new tasting. After multiple rounds, the publication arrives at its coveted list of 25. Per Cigar Aficionado, “deciding which cigar is the definitive best of the year isn’t always an easy task, especially in lieu of all the great cigars in the market.” Nat Sherman is thrilled to be ranked within the top ten cigars honorees for 2012.
Nat Sherman Timeless, reviewed by FineTobaccoNYC – read our review
The Nat Sherman Timeless Collection (Dominican Republic – Matasa) is a full-bodied, medium-strength blend of tobaccos from three countries. The Dominican and Nicaraguan Fillers offer rich notes of espresso and roasted nuts, while the Hondurian wrapper is characterized by an earthiness that is rounded by subtle sweet notes on the finish.
The product above is available for purchase on the Nat Sherman website. For any additional information or high-resolution images please free to contact me directly at 212-377-3592 or email me at Suzanne.defosset@evins.com.
About Nat Sherman:
Nat Sherman defines tobacco connoisseurship through a family tradition of innovation and expertly-curated products. Since 1930, Nat Sherman’s timeless appeal, while quintessentially New York, is embraced and enjoyed worldwide www.natsherman.com.
On Monday, November 12th, Michael Herklots, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman, and staff hosted a special event honoring veterans and members of the New York Police Department at the Nat Sherman Townhouse. I was grateful to receive an invite from Michael and Pat Felitti and to be there to smoke, meet some of the guests, and snap some photos.
The event was free to attending guests and featured Nat Sherman cigars for everyone, including both of the new Timeless blends, one Dominican and one Nicaraguan. There was also food and bar sponsored by Glenmorangie, Beluga Vodka, and Wine Symphony.
Here are some photos of the event, just click any of them to enlarge them to HD size.
As the event progressed, Michael took the floor to make a speech praising the NYPD for their hard work in the face of Hurricane Sandy and the following snow storm. Then Michael invited up Mr. Sherman himself to speak. Mr. Sherman gave a short speech of thankfulness for the hard work for the NYPD, and the lengths they are willing to go to sacrifice for everyday Americans. If someone is in trouble and needs help, he said, “You just do it. It’s not a question in your mind… and for that I thank you.”
The night finished off with more great cigars and drinks, and ended after 9:30pm.
Thanks again to the Nat Sherman team for hosting this event, and others like it. They continue to redefine what it means for the cigar industry in New York to be a positive force in the broader community.
Every now and again as I’m surfing the web I come across some unique video content that deserves shared. I’ve shared a few other videos in the past, and this video, produced by The Street is certainly up to snuff. It’s a bit dated (January 2012), but it still gives a good idea of what Nat Sherman is like. In front of the camera is Nat Sherman figurehead Michael Herklots.
Nat Sherman has been a landmark of New York City for decades now (and most of the 20th century). So it made sense when the producers of CNBC’s “How I Made My Millions” decided to feature the Nat Sherman brand. Take a quick look at this video though. You get an idea not only of Nat Sherman’s brand, but also how the cigar industry developed in New York City during the early 20th century.
This week, I was happy to be invited to 2 cigar events in NYC. The privilege of being wined and dined at flagship NYC cigar establishments is not wasted on me. I humbly enjoy every minute of spreading the good word of finetobaccoclub.com/ and The Cigar Rights of America.
The first was a release party at The Nat Sherman Townhouse for Mi Amor Reserva Cigars. This Nicaraguan blend made for Ashton was a nice full bodied smoke. Not too spicy, but not mild. As usual, no tasting notes from me, as you know, I have no palate.
Ambassadors @ Work – Christian Aliperti & Big Ronnie
The event was excellent, with Cuban food catered by Sophie’s Cuban.
Tony from Ashton Cigars was on hand and talked about the makeup of the cigar and how Ashton views their new line.
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The second event was a real treat. The Rocky Patel Cigar Dinner and Birthday Celebration for Ron Melendi was fantastic. Nish Patel was on hand talking about 3 cigar blends given out over the course of the evening, and DeLaConcha’s house band, Smoking Grooves was fantastic. The event hosted about 40 people and guests were treated to an open bar and amazing dinner catered by Rue57. I was asked to say a few words and raise awareness for the CRA and our fight. I think it went well, and I was able to sign up a few new CRA members.
Big Ronnie Spreading the CRA wordPretty sexyOur HostBig Ronnie posing outside DeLaConchaThe birthday boy shredding!Happy Birthday to Ron Melendi from the team at finetobaccoclub.com/
We were also happy to welcome a member of our lobby, Gotham Government Relations (GGR) to the event. Warren H. Cohen is GGR’s new Director of Public Affairs and is very interested in our fight. I plan to meet with him and follow up in a future post.
That’s all for today. See you after the next event!
Nat Sherman is at it again, hosting a traditional cigar dinner with Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. The night, which will cost you about $250 a ticket, will include a three course meal, with a different cigar paired for each course. This type of cigar dinner is an almost extinct tradition, which is why I’m so excited to see Nat Sherman bringing it back. Hopefully this event will remain a tradition for many years to come. Event information below
The Nat Sherman team, headed by Michael Herklots, is hosting a unique smoking experience – one of the few remaining cigar dinners in New York and indeed the world. Tickets are not cheap, but for what you get, it is a great deal that will appeal to Manhattan’s connoisseurs and upper-tier socialites.
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NAT SHERMAN AND THE CHARLIE PALMER GROUP PARTNER TO OFFER “HERF & TURF” A Dapper New York Night Out at
the Legendary Nat Sherman Townhouse and Michelin-Starred Aureole
Nat Sherman, Tobacconist to the World since 1930, and The Charlie Palmer Group, Master Chef and Hospitality Entrepreneur Charlie Palmer’s collection of award-winning restaurants and hotels, have partnered to offer a quintessentially New York experience – Herf* & Turf. Designed for travelers and locals looking to commemorate a lifetime milestone, or simply celebrate a night out with friends, this package reserves an evening of indulgence at two Midtown Manhattan landmarks.
Herf & Turf kicks off with a cigar and spirit tasting at the private club of the Nat Sherman Townhouse, The Johnson Club Room. Named after Nat Sherman’s wife Lautia “Johnson” Sherman, the intimate space is reserved exclusively for members. From the comforts of leather couches and chairs, to the selection of letters from luminaries including Sammy Davis Jr., John Wayne and Frank Sinatra, which are framed and on display throughout the store, The Johnson Club Room’s old world atmosphere is sure to turn off the city sounds for a New York minute.
The evening continues across Bryant Park at renowned Chef Charlie Palmer’s Aureole Bar Room. Celebrated for its unabashed, energetic signature Progressive American cuisine, Executive Chef Marcus Gleadow-Ware has specially created a masculine three-course menu starting with Spring Rabbit and Foie Gras Terrine, followed by Prime NY Strip and Los Ancones Chocolate and Espresso dessert. Each course is sophistically paired with unique wines selected by Aureole’s sommelier.
Herf & Turf is offered Mondays through Thursdays for $200 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) to parties of 6-14. For more information and reservations, please contact Yulia Florinskaya (Aureole) by email or phone: 646-392-9172 x20, or Tina Parrish (Nat Sherman) at 646-442-1850.
* Herf (definition of): Fancy term for “cigar party” or a way of saying “let’s get together and smoke cigars”.
Since coming under the management of Michael Herklotz (formerly of Davidoff), the Nat Sherman Townhouse has become something of a second home to me. The selection is fantastic, there is more seating than ever before (minus access to the Johnson lounge downstairs), and the staff is knowledgable and friendly. So when I asked what was new, a gentleman kindly pointed out the new Bench Collection cigars. The first such cigar up for review is the L-IDD, which, from La Aurora, sports a unique Indonesian wrapper that I’m excited to smoke.
La Aurora, the Dominican Republic’s oldest cigar factory, has teamed up with Nat Sherman to offer two very special cigars to the Tobacconist’s loyal customers at their Flagship Townhouse Store.
These cigars were manufactured in 2007 in their Dominican factory. The blends were part of the development of the La Aurora Excepcionales, a cigar made exclusively available to a small group of New York City retailers.
“We had three blends we really liked”, said Michael Herklots, who worked closely with La Aurora’s Manuel Inoa on the project. “Ultimately we chose a blend for the Excepcionales, but there were two other blends that we really liked and decided to make a very small production of them to use sometime in the future.” On a recent visit to La Aurora, Herklots inquired about the small production of the other two blends. And, fortunately for Nat Sherman, they were resting in the company’s vast aging room.
La Aurora agreed to make the small amount of cigars avialable for Nat Sherman’s exclusive Bench Collection- a series of small production cigars that use harder-to-get tobaccos in more artisenal style blends.
Both cigars are available in limited quantities boxes of 20 cigars
Blend Specifics
Vitola: Lancero
Size: 6.5″ x 40
Wrapper: Indonesian
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Appearance & Construction
This is not the most beautiful cigar my eyes have ever beheld. There are a few blotches on the Indonesian wrapper, and the color is (unsurprisingly) not quite like most cigars – sort of a light brown with a slightly reddish hue. The band, with the traditional Nat Sherman color scheme, says Nat Sherman “Bench”.
Otherwise, the construction is pretty much flawless, there are minimal viens, the wrapper is slightly oily, and the city is springy to the touch. After using a straight cut on the triple capped head, I find the draw to be about average.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
Before lighting this cigar, I take a whiff of the foot of the cigar. Apparent is a sort of woody smell, and something else that I can’t quite put my finger on and am hoping shows up a bit more discernably when I light.
The second the smoke touches my lips, I’m tasting a very unique and powerful sweetness that I haven’t experienced in any cigar I can remember. It is also, delicious, with tinges of milk chocolate, butter, and the slightest tanginess on the retrohale.
As I hit the second third, a few things are apparent. First, the ash has a hard time staying put – it burns perfectly straight, but tends to fall quickly. Second, the wrapper is delivering lots of flavor with this vitola. The strength of the smoke continues to build, making sure I don’t get bored with this cigar.
The final third sees the body and strength of the smoke increase, and the retrohale gets significantly more spicy.
Conclusion
The Nat Sherman Bench L-IDD is a cigar worthy of the Nat Sherman name. I found it to be complex and very flavorful, mostly thanks to the lancero vitola. It isn’t a cigar I would smoke every day, partially because the flavor profile isn’t one that I typically smoke, but it is a great morning cigar. Pick up a few of these before they are all gone!
