• A second tasting of recently-introduced cigars included some star brands, but only one earned the top grade of five stars.

Yep, it was another Oliva, this time the hot new Serie V Double Robusto (5 x 54), again rated a “Best Buy.”

Three others drew ratings of four and a half stars:

>> Cuba: Romeo y Julieta Edicion Limitada 2007 Escudos (5 1/2 x 50);

>> Dom. Rep.: Cuvee Rouge Churchill (7 x 50);

>> Honduras: Flor de Selva Aniversario Decimo (6 1/4 x 46).

The two other Cuban entries – the Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos (4 1/2 x 52) and the Hoyo de Monterrey Edicion Limitada 2007 Regalos (5 3/8 x 46) – both earned four stars.

Other highlights:

• A frenzy has hit British smokers and others who are lusting after the limited-edition Por Larranaga Magnifico (6 3/4 x 50), released only as a regional edition in Britain. Habanos S.A. made only 20,000 of these cigars: 1,000 boxes of 10 and 400 boxes of 25. The band is a reproduction of a century-old bow that was used to tie up bundles of 50. The demand is so great that “purchasing syndicates” have been created to try and obtain some of these rare cigars.

• Although the major U.S. cigar trade show, the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailer Association (formerly RTDA), is still the largest in the world, the Inter-Tabac Show in Dortmund, Germany isn’t far behind. The 2007 edition drew 233 exhibitors from 22 countries and a record 5,450 attendees. Held annually in September, it’s increasing being attended by U.S. cigarmakers looking for new markets for their cigars.

• Macanudo’s well-known “cigar bus” isn’t the only mobile cigar lounge on the planet. The “Casablanca Lounge” has been set up at more and more events in Austria, thanks to the work of the country’s tobacco monopoly, AustriaTabak. The firm’s lawyer came up with the idea and it’s appeared at trade shows and promotional events, but also at the “Mayor’s Party” at the Vienna Town Hall!

The Winter issue also includes a series of features of American brands making an impact in Europe such as Prometheus International and Kinky Friedman, a must-read review of tactics being used by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) against American smokers suspected of purchasing Cuban cigars and ways to defend against them, an informative review of how cigars go together with their most-closely-associated spirit, Cognac, reviews of wines, watches and much more.

To subscribe to the ECCJ, just visit the magazine’s easy-to-navigate Web site!
~ Rich Perelman

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