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

NIKKI ZIERING IS SMOKING!

New issue of Smoke on stands now

Los Angeles, December 20 – Easy on the eyes, Nikki Ziering has come some distance since her days as a dental assistant to a noticeable part in “American Wedding.”

In the winter issue of Smoke, Ziering is profiled and portrayed (!) . . . but it’s worth reading Tim Coleman’s story.

Ziering talks about the life of an up-and-coming celebrity, but also notes her single status, having divorced her husband in 2002. Her three rules for dating Nikki Ziering: Be funny (“That’s a must”) . . . Stay in (“I’m really a homebody”) . . . Teachers pet (“Here’s something guys should never, never do in bed: don’t get tips from watching pornos”). If you say so, Nikki.

Some of the other highlights:

• A revealing interview with the leadership of General Cigar, Edgar Cullman Jr. and Executive Vice President David Danziger. Noteworthy:

> Danziger’s comment that “The Cohiba Pequeno, for example, is a short cigar that can be smoked in 15 minutes and has been a phenomenal success. We have some similar sizes coming out in the Punch and Partagas lines and our Macanudo Ascots are doing extremely well. I think the short-size cigars reflect what’s going on in places like New York and California. Where there are limitations on where you can smoke, you want to smoke something that, at the end of your allotted 15-minute break or whatever, doesn’t make you feel like you wasted a cigar.”

> Cullman’s comment on the marvelous Macanudo Gold: “We offer it on a seasonal basis; the next one will be available by springtime. That cigar is a good example of our efforts to capture unique elements within the [tobacco] plant itself. It was born of the idea that all of the tobacco is from the lower priming of the plant.”

> Cullman’s candid assessment on Ramon Allones: “It hasn’t done as well as expected. We’re still perplexed as to why it hasn’t. . . . Sometimes you just don’t hit the consumer’s fancy.”

> Damziger on the future of the recently-acquired U.S. Tobacco cigar business: “Helix has been a terrific success as a new brand with a different identity. I think it’s for a younger generation – someone in their late 20s and 30s – something they find approachable.” Cullman noted that the main brands General is working on include Helix, Don Tomas and Astral.

> Danziger on La Gloria’s new Reserva Figurados: Ernesto Perez-Carillo has “taken some sizes he used to make and ones he feels he has the right tobaccos for, and he has only two rollers making them. And a wonderful compliment from Cullman: “The line is still Ernesto’s baby. We just help him sell it.”

• An invigorating round-table of film executives talking about their passion for cigars and how they got started, sifted and reported by entertainment executive and devoted cigar hound Michael Barclay.

• Richard Carleton Hacker’s ode to Irish whiskeys, a fine accompaniment for any quality cigar, praising both the well-known Jameson as well connoisseur favorites like Midelton Very Rare, Bushmills single malt or Knappogue Castle.

• The winter “Cigar Review” with tastings of 28 brands. The top selections:

> Previously unknown Exquisito from the Dominican Republic via the Crown David Cigar Co., earning a 4.6 score on a 5-point scale for its Belicoso Long, a 6 1/2-inch by 52-ring torpedo with a striped natural-and-maduro wrapper.

The 4.6 score equals the best given this year by Smoke with the Oliveros XL for Men (Nicaragua), the La Aurora Cien Anos (Dominican Republic) and the Camacho Corojo from Honduras.

> A 4.5 score for the Lempira Churchill (7 x 50) from the Tabacalera Tropical in Nicaragua.

> A 4.5 score for Cuba’s H. Upmann No. 2, a respected 6 1/8-inch by 52-ring torpedo which is just as good – but not as well known as the Montecristo No. 2. That score tied the Upmann No. 2 with the new Montecristo Edmundo for the best score in Smoke for cigars from Havana for the year.

Plus, excellent features on the rise and recession of cigars in Tampa, Florida – especially in Ybor City, for years the center of the cigar trade in the United States and on where to select and smoke cigars in San Antonio, Texas.

Naturally, we’d like to draw your attention to page 35, where our contribution is a convenient cigar guide card entitled “What Size Is It.” It’s a handy, pocket-sized guide to cigar shapes and sizes, easy to refer to and use . . . just like your favorite cigar site!
~ Rich Perelman

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