Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars

FIRST PUFF: OLIVEROS XL FOR MEN

Plus: learning to roll La Gloria Cubanas or at least act like it

Los Angeles, October 5 – In the midst of the push by manufacturers to offer smokers the boldest, richest and fattest cigars available comes the new Oliveros XL for Men blend by the Habana Cuba Cigar Company of Miami Lakes, Florida.

Introduced at the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) convention and trade show in August, these are dark cigars with oily wrappers and a big band with the “XL for Men” text prominently played up. As you get ready to light it, you’re steadying yourself for an extra-large blast of pepper to make your eyes tear, then roll around in your head and maybe pop out altogether. But the results are subtler than that:

• The first impression is not so much the flavor, but that this is a very well made cigar, with a nice draw and an even burn – a characteristic seen on too few brands today.

• Sure, the taste is peppery, but your tongue didn’t vaporize . . . it’s not really that overpowering . . . and it’s not as baldly bitter as you expected. It’s even, measured and a little prickly, but not a rough rider.

• The aroma also offers a peppery sense, but doesn’t chase you away. It keeps things interesting.

This is a well-thought-out cigar and offers those interested in a balanced, peppery flavor a worthwhile new option. Call it an introduction to the pepperpots. It’s available in three sizes: XL/52 (5 inches by 52 ring), XL/55 (6x55) and XL/60 (5 3/4x60) and ranged from $5.55 to $6.48 each, before local tobacco taxes.

How does it compare to the superstars of the peppermill group like the Camacho Corojo or Graycliff Profesionale? Fans of those two overpowering blends will find the XL for Men gentler and without the rousing character of those brands. But for the smoker looking for a change of pace in a cigar that offers pepper but doesn’t use your mouth for a grinder, consider the Oliveros XL for Men, regardless of your shirt size.

Breathe deep:
Several Iowa casinos in Bettendorf, Des Moines, Sioux City and Altoona are using a new form of air filtration which is significantly reducing the presence of smoke in smoking-friendly gambling areas.

According to the Associated Press, the new ventilation system, a Biozone Induct unit uses a photoplasma technique to trap particles and combine them into units large enough to be caught by the system’s filtration traps.

Attention smokeshop, bar and lounge owners: The units are made by Biozone Scientific of Vero Beach, Florida. A Biozone Induct 4000, offered by multiple air-conditioning equipment vendors, costs under $400 (not including installation) and covers about 4,000 square feet.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is working on air-ventilation standards to improve indoor air quality. This is important because the California law which has been copy-catted in other states barred indoor smoking until the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) could come up with standards which would render smoke inoffensive.

Cal-OSHA has never adopted such standards, but this new technology could force the issue upon them for the first time.

Rolling, rolling, rolling:
A new production of Cuban-born Nilo Cruz’s highly-regarded “Anna in the Tropics” opened over the weekend in Seattle, Washington. The show is set in 1929 in a cigar factory in the Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City, home to the U.S. cigar industry for decades and sets the cast in a moment of personal turmoil as well as the specter of increasing mechanization which could lead to the elimination of their jobs as rollers.

Actor Peter Allas – better known to some as the “Calzone King” from the “Seinfeld” television show, but who plays CheChe in this show – took his search for authenticity in the role to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s El Credito Cigars on 8th Street in Miami last month.

Allas got an afternoon’s course in cigar rolling – which is dramatized in the play – from El Credito gallery supervisor Robert Ferreiro, as well as a chance to observe what a real cigar factory is like. He noted that his visit was “essentially to learn the art. Without doing that, it’s disrespectful to the ‘artists’ who make the cigars and the audiences who come to see the performance.”

He and Perez-Carrillo also exchanged autographs, with Allas receiving a box of La Gloria Cubana cigars signed by Perez-Carrillo and Allas signing an El Credito factory mold from the 1950s.

After completing its Seattle run, the show will return to Florida in November. What are the chances that La Gloria Cubanas will be used as product props in the show? You may have to go and see for yourself!
~ Rich Perelman

Bookmark

Email This

Comments (0) add comment