Richmond, VA—To celebrate the launch of the new Hoyo de Monterrey website, General Cigar is rolling out a “Box a Day Giveaway” to share the unique flavor of the Hoyo Monterrey Reposado en Cedros® brand with cigar lovers across the U.S.

From now through July 31, 2012, consumers of legal smoking age are invited to visit the brand’s website (www.hoyodemonterreycigar.com) to enter to win a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros cigars, which feature a proprietary process called “Inmersión.™”

After being handcrafted by a handpicked team of artisans, each Reposado en Cedros cigar undergoes Inmersión, an innovative method of aging created at HATSA, General Cigar’s Honduran cigar factory. With this technique, each cigar is enveloped in fragrant cedar and left to rest for an extended period of time. The cigar matures to a complex, medium-bodied smoke that has won the brand stellar ratings and praise from the premium cigar category’s most discerning experts.

According to Kendall Rountree, brand manager for Hoyo de Monterrey cigars, “Since its debut, Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros cigars has developed a cult following among serious cigar smokers who are drawn to its uniquely spicy taste. We’re utilizing the launch of the Hoyo de Monterrey website as an opportunity to increase the brand’s legion of fans through the ‘Box a Day Giveaway’ and are confident that cigar lovers will enjoy the brand’s uniquely spicy taste.”

Winners of the Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros “Box a Day Giveaway” will be announced every Monday on the brand’s website, as well as on the brand’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Miami, Florida – May 16, 2012 – Following in the footsteps of the Cigar Aficionado 91-rated Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve, Miami Cigar & Company is set to release the 2012 edition at IPCPR in August.

The 6 1/8 x 52 box-pressed maduro cigar will be limited to 1500 boxes of 10 cigars. Rolled in Esteli, Nicaragua, this year’s edition of the Grand Reserve will have an extra kick, due to the added Nicaraguan ligero. Utilizing a dual binder this extraordinary cigar is capped of with a dark, oily Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper aimed to please today’s cigar smoker.

According to Nestor Miranda, “With the 2012 edition, we were looking to add another dimension to the Grand Reserve and what we have come up with is a cigar that is a full bodied powerhouse. I can’t wait to see the reaction of the consumers when they smoke this cigar!”

The Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve 2012 will retail for $12.00 a stick, or $120.00 for a box of 10 before any local taxes.

As many of you know, I have been trying to push this Achievement contest as much as I can – and here is another little push. The contest has been running for a little over a month and I’ve already received over 60 submissions, although I have been a little lax posting them to the scoreboard. We have a couple people who have done the quick and easy ‘forgetful’ or ‘back to front’ and we even had one guy who completed the Chief Achievement – an Achievement that took over 9 hours of dedication to complete. We are starting the final stretch of this contest – I think the middle to end of June will be when I finally pull the plug and get the prizes sent out. You all still have time to win! But – as always, a little motivation for you all!

The regular readers might be asking themselves – where the hell did this guy go? For a couple months he was pretty consistent with 5 to 6 posts/reviews a week and then all of a sudden – he is gone! Well, I work for a healthcare company and the office recently was damaged – significantly. The St. Louis area was hit by a storm that produced baseball sized hail, yeah… enough said.

I work in IT for about 120 local users – needless to say it has been a hectic time keeping the servers running, managing the transition for some to a temporary office, others on the road and the remaining working from home. I really enjoy keeping this blog going, but when it comes down to a hobby and my salary – you guys lose haha. Anyway – here are a couple photos of the damage. Now that things are calming down I hope to get back into my routine with the site, but until then, it is what it is.

~ The Nut Himself

Merlion by La Sirena Coming Ashore!

Miami, Florida – May 04, 2012 – In what one can term Beauty & The Beast; La Sirena and La Aurora have teamed up to create a new cigar, Merlion.. The name Merlion comes from a mythical creature that is half lion and half mermaid, the perfect fit for La Sirena and La Aurora.

The Merlion will be rolled at La Aurora Cigar Factory utilizing 6 different types of tobacco. The wrapper is a silky looking Ecuadorian Corojo, while the binder is Sumatra from Brazil. The filler, has 4 different types of tobacco including; Brazillian Bahia, Dominican Corojo, Dominican Criollo ’98, and Nicaraguan ligero to add that strength that you expect from a La Sirena cigar.

The Merlion which comes 20 in a box is available in 3 sizes, Robusto (5 x 50 / $9.00); Toro (5.5 x 54 / $10.00) and Gran Toro (6 x 58 / $10.50). All prices are before local taxes.

According to Brand Manager, Arielle Ditkowich “We are very excited to be working with Guillermo and La Aurora, they have blended us a beautiful medium bodied cigar that is extremely complex and offers a nice contrast to our existing line.”

The Merlion by La Sirena is expected to start shipping late June 2012.

PRESS RELEASE: Smoke Inn’s Microblend Series Solaris By Arturo Fuente To Be Released This Month

West Palm Beach, FL – May 3,2012 – Release Date Announced for Solaris Cigars by Arturo Fuente, made exclusively for Smoke Inn’s Microbend Series.TM

In late 2010 Smoke Inn Cigars released the Tatuaje Anarchy Cigar as a first in a four part series of small limited run releases to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary in 2011. Upon the success of Anarchy, the Padron Anniversary SI-15, and the My Father El Hijo, Smoke Inn decided that this concept called their Microblend SeriesTM, was an excellent way to produce high quality cigars made from select limited tobaccos with perfect consistency. Since they were produced only once, it was guaranteed that the very last cigar would smoke like the very first one with no variances in the type or quality of tobaccos used.

For this installment Smoke Inn played no part in the creation of the size or blend. When Smoke Inn Proprietor Abe Dababneh approached the Fuente Family about making a Microblend, they decided this would be a perfect project for a small batch of cigars made over 6 years ago. Carlos Fuente Sr. had produced a small batch of belicoso cigars made from Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper that was uniquely light in its complexion. The cigars sat and aged for over six years. When smoked, we found the flavor mellow yet complex. One could definitely taste the quintessential Fuente flavor profile behind the elegantly aged smoke.

Due to the limited amount of cigars, Solaris will come in 10 count boxes with a total production of 550 boxes. The 6×49 belicoso will retail for $8.95 a stick, $89.50 a box. Pre-orders are being taken with a special offer of a free limited edition Solaris tee shirt with every pre-order (a $15 value, while supplies last). All pre-orders will be shipped on the release date, Monday May 28, 2012. Solaris should be a big hit amongst Fuente fans and collectors; especially those who like to age their cigars.

Contact:
Abe Dababneh
Smoke Inn
info@smokeinn.com
1-561-721-2383