Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - SURPRISING NICARAO NOW AT FAMOUS SMOKE SHOP

SURPRISING NICARAO NOW AT FAMOUS SMOKE SHOP

SURPRISING NICARAO NOW AT FAMOUS SMOKE SHOP

Cigar clubs on the rise in Florida

Los Angeles, November 22 – When we sampled more than 100 brands for our ranking of full-bodied cigars, there were bound to be surprises. Nicarao was one of the biggest.

Completely unheralded, this was a Cigar Boom brand which attracted little, if any, notice. The new management team at the Tabacalera Tropical decided to produce a blend which evoked the original taste of Cuba’s Montecristo brand.

That’s a tall order, since Gerard Pere et Fils’s The Connoisseur’s Guide to Havana Cigars, called that Montecristo “the spearhead for Havana cigars. They were very soft, smooth, almost caramelised with marvellous fragrance and class.”

So is Nicarao!

The samples we tried – especially the Piramide, a 6-inch by 52-ring torpedo – had an intense caramelized finish and a sweet, almost buttery start. But the brand has not been widely available.

Enter Famous Smoke Shop, which now offers all four sizes in boxes of 20 from $59.95 to $85.95, but also in perfect-for-sampling five-packs. You can try these remarkable cigars for just $18.95 to $26.95, depending on size. The Piramides are just $25.95.

If you are a fan of caramelized flavor, try Nicarao. See if they are some of the best you have tried, at any price!

Steals and Deals:
Our friends at Famous have been extra busy, with hundreds of changes in their pricing and brand line-up. Some of them are good opportunities for you:

• At long last, fabulous Ashton Aged Maduros are available in affordable packs of five. From $28.95 to $47.95, this is an amazing series which we ranked it no. 2 on our list of the best full-bodied cigars. Now you can try them for a fraction of the full-box price.

• Nice opportunities on cigars from the much-respected Carlos Torano, one of the nicest people you will meet in any field, let alone the cigar business:

> Carlos Torano Cameroon 1916, full of flavor, was $97.95 for 25, now $79.95.

> Carlos Torano Exodus 1959, ranked no. 16 on our list of the best medium-bodied cigars, was $88.95, now $69.95.

> Carlos Torano Casa Torano, a new blend previously enjoyed only in the Torano factory, nice and mellow, now offered in five-packs from $22.50 to $26.00.

• Don Diego Aniversario, underrated and smooth, offered in Altadis’s enviable tins of four for $12.95 (was $16.00) or $59.95 for five tins of four (were $71.95).

• The Griffin’s in packs of four or five, on sale from $16.95 to $26.50; the pack of four Toros (6 1/4 x 52) is just $23.50.

• Helix x652 (6 x 52), one of our favorite mild-bodied cigars, now $49.95 for a box of 25, instead of the regular price of $61.95.

• Popular Montecristo Platinum sizes in those great Altadis tins: the Petite No. 2 (4 x 45 torpedo) or No. 5 (4 x 45 straight-sided), were $20.00, now $15.95 for four or five tins (20 cigars total) for $74.95 instead of $89.95.

• Partagas Limited Reserve, expensive by the box, almost never available in five-packs, now offered in all four sizes for between $43.95 to $63.95.

• Punch Grand Cru, also rarely available in anything less than a full box, offered in packs of five for $18.95 to $37.95.

• Romeo y Julieta Vintage – another brand you rarely see in less than full boxes – now in packs of five for $27.95 to $45.95.

• Flavorful Saint Luis Rey Rothchildes (5 x 54), usually $123.95 for 50, now $99.95.

This might be Famous’s best sale ever, but with their constant turnover in pricing, check it out right away if you’re at all interested.

Goin’ Clubbing? Bring Your Credit Card!
Another sign that enthusiasm for cigars is continuing is a substantial uptick in cigar club memberships reported in Florida.

The Bradenton Herald noted that a new cigar bar called “Le Cigar” sold 15 of 24 available memberships at $1,500 each before it even opened! Members have access to a private room, equipped with pool tables, Internet access stations and other amenities.

The Smokin’ Martini, an already-popular bar in Palmetto, introduced a cigar-club membership (also for a private area) which includes equity in the business at $4,000 for up to 99 members. Today, the member roster is nearing 90% of capacity, the cost has increased to $6,000 and an interview process has been introduced.

Jonathan Shute, a part-owner of Smokin’ Martini, told the Herald that the fee will likely rise to $8,000 after January 1, “and I still won’t have a problem filling the spaces.”

Why?

Michael McKinney, an area manager for the J.C. Newman Cigar Company of Tampa, noted that “Cigar smokers are going to go places where smoking is still welcome. Places like that are disappearing, so those that are surviving will flourish.”

The growing success of limited-admission facilities recalls the explosion in popularity of the British social (and often, smoking) club in the Victorian Era, when smoking was banned. Shortly after, when her son King Edward came to the throne, it ushered in one of cigardom’s greatest eras. Perhaps history will repeat itself . . . I hope so.
~ Rich Perelman

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