Yeah yeah yeah, I know – I have taken a couple weeks off of the news but it is all for good reasons – - kinda. Either way, I hope you all are ready for another installment of The Nuts Newsworthy Notes!

Looks like the H. Upmann name is back in the legal processes – the company was ‘started’ December 17th, 1912 in America and has been under the ownership of Altidas since then and has recently renewed the legal rights to the H. Upmann name. But – it does not appear that they are going to be going to court or anything of the such, taken from Cigar Aficionado “… it appears that the U.S. rights to the Altadis U.S.A. Inc. brand portfolio will not be the source of future battles: the company, which makes and markets Montecristo, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta and Por Larrañaga cigars, is a unit of Altadis S.A., which owns half of Cuba’s Habanos S.A. and is the largest customer by far of Cuba’s cigar industry.” Must be nice to have friends in high places, right!?

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I am sure you are all quickly realizing that I have a thing for Cuban cigars, and their annual festival. Included below is the pricing list ( for those of us in the US, for educational purposes only – haha ) and the different events that you can sign up for. I have to admit tho, I had no idea that Habanos S.A. brought in this kind of money just from admissions! Enough rambling, onto the important stuff!

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Tags: 15th Habanos Festival, Cuba, Cuban, Festival, Habanos, Habanos S.A.

Habanos S.A. released the official announcement yesterday about the 15th Habanos Festival, and today the followed it up with a full preliminary program listing. I am sure that this will have minor changes, but to say I wish I could be there is an understatement. Sigh – oh well, onto the juicy info!

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Tags: Cuba, Cuban, Festival, Habanos, Habanos S.A.

Hell yeah everyone! Its almost that time! For those of you who know and those who will find out, I have a borderline obsessive attraction to Habanos S.A. – from their festivals, to their cigars, to their humidors to just the ‘experience’ of the festival. One thing on my bucket list is to go to one Habanos Festival before I die. Here’s to wishing right!? Included below is their official press release – what about you all, would you go if you could?!

From Tuesday February 26th to Saturday March 2nd, 2013, Cuba, once more, will be the venue of the largest international gathering of enthusiasts of the best cigar in the world: the Habano. In this occasion, special tribute will be paid during the event Montecristo and Partagás, two of the most prestigious Habanos brands.

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Tags: Cuba, Cuban, Festival, Habanos, Habanos S.A.

Size: Salomon – 5 1/4″ x48/52
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Full
Price: ~ $9.00 USD each ( $135 a box )

Behind The Stick:

As much as I like to give a quick synopsis of a cigar, a little background history and what have ya – I really think that the press release that Smoke Inn put out covers the entire blend to a T. I was also one of the lucky people who got the old Anarchy band, so I removed it for sake of avoiding confusion. Essentially, this is the Tatuaje Anarchy ( review here ) that has been refined, made a little shorter and generally ‘improved’. This is a pre-release review and for this I only smoked a single cigar.

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Tags: Apocalypse, cigar review, Inn, Smoke, Smoke Inn, Tatuaje

Size: 6 x 52 ( Toro )
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder and Filler: Nicaragua, Honduras and Jamaica
Strength: Medium
Price: ~ $3.50

Behind The Stick:

Yes yes – this is a cigar that is created by Altidas – another one of those ‘love em or hate em’ companies. The Dominican constructed, Nicaraguan, Honduran and Jamaican blend carries the name ‘Royal Jamaica’ due in part to its contents, a not so common Jamaican tobacco while the Oro Rojo means ‘red gold’ in Spanish which may have come into play due to the red tint the wrapper carries. The company totes this as one of their ‘finest’ and most ‘refined’ cigars containing Jamaican tobacco – not to be a jerk but if you only have one or two blends, its not hard to be the ‘finest’ and most ‘refined’ but I digress, back on topic. The tobacco used for Royal Jamaica cigars is actually sprayed with Bethune, a mixture of herbs, vinegar and various alcohols, (including Jamaican rum). This has a couple different purposes, but the main one being the flavor and aroma it adds to the cigar. Let us see if this ‘middle of the road’ Jamaican blend is worthy of the gold wrapper or if Altidas is just trying to dress up a dog turd – Onto the damn review!

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Tags: cigar, Jamaican, opinion, Oro, review, Rojo, Royal