Simon Camacho created the Camacho cigar in Miami in 1961 after fleeing Cuba. Small production and great quality soon made the brand a favorite among cigar lovers world wide including Winston Churchill. Upon his death, the Eiroa family acquired the brand in 1995. Over the next fifteen years, the brand has catapulted into one of the most popular brands of our time.

Today’s cigar marketplace is flooded with “boutique brands”. But before this onslaught of out-of-nowhere boutique BS, the cigar industry really had two classes; the “big name” time honored brands and the small local brands.So how did the “little guys” finally gain credibility as viable brands? Who pioneered the change? Easy. Ernesto Perez-Carillo.

In 2005, the cigar industry’s annual convention and trade show took place in New Orleans, LA. Little did we know that within a couple weeks, Hurricane Katrina would destroy the very streets we were walking on. In fact, the convention center that hosted us served as a relief center. At that show, Ashton premiered a new concept for themselves as well as the industry as a whole; their Ashton Estate Sun Grown (ESG) celebrating their 20th year in business.

While wine connoisseurs understand and embrace the idea that every year a particular house’s product will be different than the year before, cigar enthusiasts come to expect the same flavor and same experience from a cigar year after year. In order to do this, cigars are manufactured in a non-vintage style similar to the way many whiskies and NV Champagnes are. While a few cigar manufacturers have flirted with the Vintage concept for small run projects, Pete Johnson has taken it to a whole new level.

Alan Rubin is a relative newcomer to the Premium Cigar industry when you compare him to folks who’ve grown up in the business generation after generation. Naming the company after his two sons, Alec Bradley has become one of the most significant brands of the last 5 years, slowly and deliberately launching great new products that are well made, well aged and absolutely ready to be enjoyed. The Alec Bradley Prensado is no exception.

Enjoying cigars has been a pastime that has transcended geography and social status and has spanned centuries, however over the years, laws are making it nearly impossible to find a place to enjoy these legal products. The Cigar Rights of America (CRA) was founded in 2006 by a group of manufacturers, retailers and consumers to protect the freedoms of cigar enthusiasts. Now for the the first time, the Premium Cigar Industry’s leading manufacturers have partnered to create an unbelievable CRA Sampler Pack.

In an emotional presentation in February 2010 at the Annual ProCigar Festival in Santiago, Dominican republic, I was among the first to taste the Quesada Tributo cigar. Finally, after much anticipation, the Quesada Tributo is now available in premium tobacconists around the country…. if they’re still in stock.

About 15 months ago, I got a Friend Request from Bill Paley on Facebook. The next day, Bill Paley was following me on Twitter. A few days later, I had a phone message on my desk from Bill Paley’s assistant asking if I’d be available to have lunch with Bill Paley. But, WHO THE HELL IS BILL PALEY!?!… I thought to myself. Well, over lunch at New York’s famous “21 Club” I found out.

There is no arguing the fact that the Dominican Republic makes some of the finest cigars money can buy. Nicknamed “Cigar Country”, the Dominican Republic is producing and exporting more premium cigars than any other country on this earth. Giving credit where credit is due, La Aurora is the Dominican Republic’s oldest cigar factory, founded in 1903 by Eduardo Leon Jimenes. 107 years later, under the direction of Guillermo Leon, the Leon family is still producing some of the world’s finest cigars.