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Richmond Avenue Cigar - 2006 RTDA Report
RTDA 2006 - Back to Las Vegas
Again, your humble tobacconists, Dan and Lynn, and an entourage consisting of Super Marketer Joe, and Super Salesman Don, attended the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America convention which was held in Las Vegas July 17-19. We will try to give you a few highlights and new things we saw at the show. We woke up at the ridiculously early time of 4am on July 16 to be able to get to the airport on time for our 7:30 flight. Accounting for the time difference we landed at 8:30am Vegas time. Fortunately we were able to get one room in the Sahara by the time we got there at about 10:30 so we could all dump our bags and our THREE cases of bottled water which by my calculation weighed about 75 pounds, but more about the water later.
CAMACHO
Camacho has introduced a maduro version of their Corojo wrapper cigars. Previously Camacho Corojo cigars were available in natural and "dark natural", but the 2004 Corojo was so remarkably good that the Eiroas, Julio and Christian are now replacing the dark naturals with corojo maduro. They are very proud of this new type of maduro and the sample we smoked had a deep rich dark maduro flavor. From Camacho's literature; "As a matter of fact, the Camacho Corojo and the El Legend-Ario Authentic Corojo will be the only cigars on the market (to the best of our knowledge) that will bear a Maduro wrapper that is neither Broadleaf nor Mexican. The fact is, that Camacho Cigars is the only company growing Authentic Corojo tobacco." We already have these cigars in our shop. The El-Legendario Corojo Maduros will be in soon.
La Flor Dominicana We visited Litto Gomez and saw his latest new creations. His Mysterio, pictured below is easily the most beautiful cigar we saw at the show. He has also made a limited LG Cigar called "Litto Gomez Small Batch No. 1" which is packaged in a box of 105. The filler and binder will still be from his farm in the Dominican Republic but this time he added a Sumatra-seed, dark Dominican wrapper that is absolutely stunning. Only 20,000 cigars were rolled and with 105 per box that means there is less than 200 boxes of these available.
Altadis USA Quintessa - Sporting a beautiful dark Honduran Cubano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, this is a very tasty and smooth rich cigar which we already have in the shop. Quintero Maduro - The Quintero was introduced officially at last year's RTDA, although no samples were actually available then. It has since become a go-to smoke in our shop and has a rich, slightly sweet flavor with a pleasant underlying body. The maduro version has a San Andres Morron maduro wrapper and is a very good complement to the natural-wrapped version. Romeo y Julieta Edicion Limitada - We were told that only a select few tobacconists would be shown this cigar which was displayed in a special invitation only room. It is a limited edition cigar which comes in a beautiful red metal tube. This cigar will have a blend unlike any other Romeo...it will have a San Andreas Corojo wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. No samples were available at the show since they were not through aging. They will be available in 3 sizes all in red metal tubes, Rothchilde 5x54, Prominente 6x54, and No.2 6 1/8x52. Retail will be $17, $18, and $20 respectively. See picture below.
Alec-Bradley Maxx - MAXX is blended with Nicaraguan maduro wrapper, Costa Rican binder, and a four-country blend of Nicaraguan, Mexican, Honduran, and Colombian long fillers. The names for the frontmarks are "Fix" (5 x 58), "Culture" (6½ x 54), "Freak" (6 3/8 x 60), "Curve" (7 x 58), and the "Ego" at 9¼" x 50. The really amazing thing about these cigars besides the taste is that EVERY size will have an MSRP of $5.00!
STC - Gran Habano 3 Siglos George and Guillermo Rico are two of the nicest folks in the cigar business. They make the Gran Habano Connecticut #1,Habano #3 and Corojo #5 cigars in addition to one of our favorite everyday smokes, the GR Specials. This year George handed us a beautiful looking cigar with a gold and white band along with a second gold band. The cigar is called 3 Siglos and it is a very smooth cigar with a great underlying spice and body. It is a very refined smoke. It has a shade grown Nicaraguan wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan Corojo ligero, Costa Rican ligero and Colombian ligero. We will have these in our shop soon.
Tropical Tobacco Salamones - Connecticut and Corojo - These amazing Salamones (large figurados) we now have in the shop. They are 7" long and taper from 52 ring gauge at the head to 60 ring at the foot. Lynn smoked the Connecticut wrapped one and said the wrapper was flawless and the taste was creamy smooth and it had a perfect draw and burn. These are beautifully rolled cigars and taste great.
General Cigar
Partagas Limited Reserve Decadas A 2006 version of the cigar first released at las year's RTDA featuring an aged Cameroon wrapper from 1996. Last year's release was a very full-flavored rich cigar which flew off our shelves. Partagas 160 The ultra rare wrapper left from manufacturing the Partagas 150 in 1995, which at that time was 18 years old, has been used to make the new Partagas 160 cigar. Unfortunately we did not attend the General Cigar party (too tired!) and get a sample of this cigar, but we are sure it will be a classic just as the Partagas 150. We will have these cigars in our shop in a few weeks.
New La Gloria Humidor The new La Gloria Cubana Serie R humidor will be the last one by Ernesto Perez-Carillo. This one-time release is also the largest of any of the previous limited releases mesuring 7.75" x 63 ring. The humidor will contain 30 of these beauties in either natural or maduro wrapper.
CSB/EGO
To me, this company was the find of the show. Ego/CSB was exhibiting for their second RTDA and we were very impressed with their EGO Cigar line. The Alter Ego 6.75x52 Belicoso is pictured above. This is a very rich, earthy, slightly spicy cigar with an incredible flavor. Their CSB bundles in natural, habano and maduro at MSRP of $2-$2.50 ea are simply great smokes with depth of flavor not presnt in some cigars that are three times the price. Felix Assouline, president of EGO is a very personable and generous man and he is a cigar maker to watch in the coming years. We have the CSB and EGO cigars now in the shop. Don't miss your chance to try these great smokes.
Tatuaje
Pete Johnson and Pepin Garcia, to me, were on top of the world at this RTDA. The great reviews of their Tatuaje line of Nicaraguan puros has brought them recognition and rightly so. Their booth was always crowded. Pete has had to limit the number of retailers for his Tatuaje line to about 125-130 nationwide, and we are proud to be one of them. He has introduced two more lines, the Havana VI, a full-bodied smooth rich cigar made in Nicaragua, which will be available to a wider number of retailers, and the Series P, a sandwich filler cigar. Pete, above, has also moved into the world of swag with a new Tatuaje branded Lotus table lighter pictured above with the Havana VI, and a Tatuaje branded ashtray along with more goodies to come. Pete is a person who makes you feel as if you have known him for years, and is another cigar maker to watch in the coming years.
Oh....and by the way, getting back to the three cases of water we were lugging around: we put Padron labels (1964 Anniversary and the regular Padron logo) on bottles in two of the cases as a gift for the hard-working Padron family. Below, Orlando Padron accepts the water from super marketer Joe. We also took the liberty of labeling one case of water bottles with Opus X artwork and presented them to Carlos Fuente Sr. and Jr. which was appreciated greatly by them also.
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