Cigar Snob Magazine July August 2018 by Cigar Snob Magazine

JULY/AUGUST 2018

with

Hours in p. 55

LOS ANGELES TAMPA NEW YORK RENO CHICAGO MADISON NEW HAMPSHIRE p. 33

p. 46

NICARAGUA

ON THE BRINK p. 97

p. 65

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editorials JULY / AUGUST 2018

PERFECT PAIRINGS ROCKY PATEL SUNGROWN MADURO / FOUR ROSES BOURBON BLACKBERRY SMASH We went back to the well for more cocktail ideas from the “Big Papi” of mixology and he came up with what is likely the most flexible cocktail you’ll ever make.

PERFECT PAIRINGS PLASENCIA ALMA FUERTE / BUFFALO TRACE OLD FASHIONED You can’t stand behind a bar and act out your cool bartender fantasy if you can’t make a killer Old Fashioned. Check out this updated version of the timeless classic… spoiler alert; it involves grated chocolate!

24 HOURS IN YOUR TOWN

Q&A: EMMITT SMITH

NICARAGUA ON THE BRINK

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We asked seven of the cigar industry’s most interesting personalities for advice on what to do with 24 hours to tear through their city. Where would we eat, drink, and be tourists?

The NFL Hall of Famer and all-time leading rusher shares stories about his early days on the football field, the lessons he learned along the way, and the fulfillment of his childhood dreams. He’s parlayed a successful NFL career into a life in real estate, construction and philanthropy.

Nicaragua was remarkably stable — until it wasn’t. The country has erupted in deadly protests over the Ortega regime’s policies. How did we get here, where does the cigar town of Estelí fit into the picture, and where might things be headed for the city, the country and the Nicaraguan cigar industry?

Q&A: LARRY SHARPE We spoke with Larry Sharpe, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for New York governor, about cigar regulation, entrepreneurship, and the odds his third-party campaign faces.

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features JULY / AUGUST 2018

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

FEEDBACK

WHAT’S BURNIN’

SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB

RATINGS

SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB

LIVE, LOVE, SMOKE

SHADES OF GREY

104

TWITTER SCOREBOARD

106

EVENT COVERAGE 106 5TH ANNUAL CARS & CIGARS – SMOKE DETROIT 108 PADRÓN FAMILY FOUNDATION SUMMER SMOKER

110 AJ FERNANDEZ / THE MACALLAN / RUTH’S

CHRIS DINNER AT SABOR HAVANA CIGARS

112 RON JAWORSKI’S CELEBRITY GOLF CHALLENGE PAIRINGS PARTY

114 MIAMI CIGAR FEATURING NESTOR MIRANDA AT CAVA CIGARS

116 MY FATHER CIGARS AT CAVA CIGARS 118 OLIVA CIGARS AT CAVA CIGARS 120 NYC BOATS AND SMOKES CIGAR CRUISE 122 4TH ANNUAL HEA GOLF TOURNAMENT 12 | CIGAR SNOB | JULY / AUG 2018

A Good Day, Starts with...

M AC C H I ATO C

C A P P U C C IN O C

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VO L . 1 0 IS SU E 4 www.cigarsnobmag.com PUBLISHER & EDITOR Erik Calviño SENIOR EDITOR Nicolás Antonio Jiménez COPY EDITOR Michael LaRocca SALES & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Oscar M. Calviño PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Ivan Ocampo ART DIRECTOR Andy Astencio DIGITAL RETOUCHING SPECIALIST Ramón Santana CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sean Chaffin CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Benoliel Andy Astencio Jonathan Zizzo EVENT PHOTOGRAPHERS Jamilet Calviño Rich Murawski Dimitrios Douloumbakas Cover Photography by David Benoliel www.davidbenolielphotography.com Cover Model - Viktorija Lukoseviciute Cigar Snob is published bi-monthly by Lockstock Publications, Inc. 1421-1 SW 107th Ave., #253 Miami, FL 33174-2509 Tel: 1 (786) 423-1015 Cigar Snob is a registered trademark of Lockstock Publications, Inc., all rights reserved. Reproduction in part or full without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Cigar Snob is printed in the U.S. Contents copyright 2006, Lockstock Publications, Inc. To subscribe, visit www.cigarsnobmag.com

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The world is thoroughly upside down right now. We’re living in what seems like a Bizarro world, where political leaders trade jabs and make major geo-political announcements on a social media platform that limits them to 280 characters. Tune in to one major news network and they’ll describe a president who has done something unforgivable that can only be remedied by impeachment. Tune in to another major news network and that same act is celebrated with jubilation. And in the latest turn of events, politically charged mobs of protesters are harassing politicians who have either taken a controversial stance or have defended one in a public statement. They’re confronting public officials in restaurants, in movie theaters, and on the streets. Most recently, a group of protesters picketed outside of a politician’s home in the early morning hours to “wake her up.” This is a horrifyingly slippery slope. In the meantime, the cigar industry is under attack at precisely the wrong time. I’m not going out on a limb when I say that cigars are without equal in the role of mediator, conversation facilitator, and aggression pacifier. Don’t believe me? Walk into any cigar shop in a hotly divided city and listen to the conversation. Although divisive topics are debated in them daily, everyone is still civil and respectful of each other’s point of view and philosophy. Common ground helps keep disagreements civil, and cigars give us that common ground. There are other things that perform the same function, like a good red wine or an excellent Scotch. But they do so while changing your state of mind. In other words, they get you drunk. Cigars do the job without affecting your judgment and yet they’re under attack on every front imaginable. Upside down, I tell you. On a lighter note, we’ve got an issue jam-packed with cigar goodness, starting with a Q&A with the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, on p. 55. Our travel section is different in that instead of spending a few days in one city and giving you our recommendations, we asked seven of the cigar industry’s most interesting personalities where we should go if we had 24 hours in their towns. That starts on p. 33. We also had two amazing photo shoots in this issue. The first — titled Live, Love, Smoke — features Chelcie May smoking the newly released Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas on p. 46. The second is a more edgy, artistic black and white shoot titled Shades of Grey, where the exotic Viktorija Lukoseviciute smoked both the Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 on p. 84. Finally, and on a more somber note, we had our senior editor Nicolás Antonio Jiménez look into the political unrest in Nicaragua on p. 97. From this publication’s earliest

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days, we’ve had a love affair with Nicaragua. Its tobacco, its food and most importantly its people have carved out a place in our hearts. To see it unravel like this has been gut wrenching. More so because there is not much we can do. We are watching from the sidelines as our friends fight for their lives, their livelihood and their freedom. As a Catholic, all I can do is pray for a peaceful resolution where citizens’ rights are preserved and always respected. God bless. Keep ‘em lit,

Erik Calviño ecalvino@cigarsnobmag.com

CORRECTION In the “What’s Burnin’” section of our last issue (May/June 2018), we made an error in identifying people at Casa Lever, the New York restaurant whose seasonal outdoor lounge, Casa Lever Gardens, partnered with Nat Sherman to create a cigar program. Casa Lever’s chef is Domenico Natale. The cocktail menu was developed by Lorenzo Casi. Please accept our apologies. If this error is being taken into consideration for decisions about whether to comp drinks when Cigar Snob is in New York, please note that this error was definitely not the fault of our senior editor Nicolás Antonio Jiménez.

YO, ADRIAN! Great piece on the man behind one of my favorite cigars, Rocky Patel, in your last issue. I had no clue about his story! I just figured he was born on a tobacco field like all the other so-called cigar makers. In all seriousness, though, you should offer your readers tickets to these great parties! Hint hint. Darren E. Norfolk, Va.

VIA FEEDBACK@CIGARSNOBMAG.COM

Rocky’s got a great story, and he throws a damn good party. We’d love to have you come along, but you might have to face one of those “so-called cigar makers” at the event, at which point you’re on your own, buddy.

WHAT HURRICANE? I was under the impression Puerto Rico had been devastated by a hurricane; at least that’s what the news leads me to believe. What’s the deal? Your May/June 2018 issue depicts Puerto Rico as a cigar smoking bikini wearing utopia that hasn’t seen the slightest hint of bad weather. Am I just tuned in to the wrong news channel? Drew R. Saginaw, Mich.

VIA FEEDBACK@CIGARSNOBMAG.COM

Puerto Rico was a great time, but it looks like maybe you didn’t read the story. Yes, there’s a lot to see and do there, but the island is still reeling from the social and economic impact of the storm. It’s worth a trip and you’ll have a great time, but it’s not what it once was in many ways.

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Consecutive Years in Cigar Aficionado’s top 25

91 Timeless Prestige Churchill (Formerly Timeless Dominican)

92 Timeless Supreme 652T (Formerly Timeless Nicaragua)

93 Timeless Prestige No.2 (Formerly Timeless Dominican)

93 Timeless Prestige Divinos (Formerly Timeless Dominican) “A handsomely box-pressed torpedo offering a rich range of molasses, oak and semisweet chocolate.” Cigar Aficionado - 652T “A sign of newfound energy and commitment Nat Sherman has made to its cigar brand.” Cigar Aficionado - No.2

NSI265

THE TIMELESS COLLECTION. ACCOLADES TO BE CONTINUED...

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ROYAL AGIO INTRODUCES SAN PEDRO DE MACORÍS

national release is scheduled later in the summer. The cigar features a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. It’ll be available in one format, a 6 x 50 Toro.

ROCKY PATEL FIFTEENTH GETS A NEW LOOK

Royal Agio Cigars USA announced the launch of San Pedro de Macorís, a brand meant to add accessibly priced products to the company’s lineup of handmade cigars. The brand, named for the Dominican town that ’s home to Agio’s factory, will debut with two blends, one called “Ecuador” and the other “Brazil.” The Ecuador blend features a shade-grown Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, while the San Pedro de Macorís Brazil has a sungrown Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. Both blends incorporate Dominican binders and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Brazil. Both San Pedro de Macorís blends will be packaged in 20-count boxes and will be available in three vitolas: Perla (4 1/8 x 40), Corona (5 7/8 x 42) and Robusto (5 1/8 x 52). They’ll range in price from $4.75 to $5.50 per cigar.

LEAF BY JAMES Black Label Trading Company announced the release of a cigar whose name might sound somewhat familiar. The company ’s Fabrica Oveja Negra in Estelí will be manufacturing Leaf by James, which is a collaboration with “Island Jim” Robinson. Island Jim is the owner of Pittsburgh’s Leaf & Bean. He was also long the face of Leaf by Oscar, which is made by Oscar Valladares in Honduras. A pre-launch event for Leaf by James was held on June 8, 2018 at Leaf and Bean. A

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Rocky Patel Premium Cigars announced a new look for its celebrated Fifteenth Anniversary line. The new packaging will make its official debut at July ’s IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas. The blend will not change. According to a press release from Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, the idea here was to remedy the problem of “dull bands and the overly heavy metal box plates that kept this brand lost on retail shelves.” The new cigar bands feature the brand name and Rocky Patel logo with shinier silver embossing. The box design has also changed to make the inside box art pop more on a shelf.

VILLIGER OPENS NEW BRAZILIAN FACTORY Villiger Cigars announced the opening of its new Brazilian factory, Villiger do Brasil (Portuguese for “Villiger of Brazil”). Villiger has been importing Brazilian tobacco since 1888. In 1979, the company opened a Brazilian Villiger subsidiary as well as a factory named Charutos Tobajara Limitada. The name Tobajara is a nod to

a native tribe known for growing tobacco. That facility is being replaced by a newer, larger one in Feira de Santana, the second largest city in the State of Bahia. For now, the factory produces only Brazilian puros like Villiger San’Doro Maduro and brands distributed exclusively in Europe, like Villiger Celebration and Corrida. “Brazilian tobacco holds a special place in my heart,” said Villiger chairman Heinrich Villiger, who was present for the factory opening. “My grandparents saw the value in Brazilian tobacco when they began Villiger Cigars as very small operation in 1888, and we have continued the tradition of using this very special tobacco in many of our brands. We feel that the hard working and passionate team at Villiger do Brasil will help us increase the awareness of Brazilian tobacco worldwide.”

CAMACHO LIBERTY SERIES 2005 THROWBACK

Camacho announced that it’ll introduce the Camacho Liberty 2005 Throwback. The Liberty Series has been around 16 years and is now a highly anticipated annual release. The 2005 edition was among the most acclaimed of these limited releases. This cigar will be available in its original 11/18 Figurado format. It’s a 6-inch cigar with a 48/54/48 ring gauge. The blend is all Honduran Corojo. According to a Camacho press release, “The blend, like the original, yields a rich, dark and hearty smoke, boasting notes of earth, chocolate and leather with hints of spice that increase in intensity throughout the smoking experience.” Only 30,000 cigars (1,500 boxes) were produced for the U.S. market. They’ll retail for $22 per cigar or $440 for a box of 20.

NAT SHERMAN’S BRAND OVERHAUL Nat Sherman has unveiled the results of its branding overhaul. The company has consolidated its product portfolio, bringing everything under three core brands: Metropolitan, Timeless and Epoca. Blends will remain the same, but packaging has been updated to reflect the new strategy. The Metropolitan brand will be home to Nat Sherman’s most traditional premium cigars. It will feature three primary blends — Metropolitan Connecticut, Maduro and Habano — along with the Host and Host Maduro blends. Nat Sherman’s tinned pipe tobaccos will also be part of the Metropolitan brand. “Timeless is a diverse collection of the company’s most inspired and award-winning blends,” according to a Nat Sherman press release. The Timeless brand will feature more unique blends that bring together tobaccos of various origins, varieties and vintages. The Timeless lineup includes Prestige (formerly Timeless Dominican), Supreme (formerly Timeless Nicaraguan), Sterling and Panamericana. The company’s “Nat’s cigarillos” are now branded as Timeless cigarillos. Finally, there’s the Epoca brand, which made its comeback in the U.S. in 2014. Considered a “Clear Havana,” it was originally made in New York City using Cuban tobaccos and a domestic wrapper. Today’s Epoca draws its inspiration from that old brand. “This realignment of our cigar brands offers a clearer picture of how our collection of products fit together,” said Michael Herklots, vice president of retail and brand development. “Our manufacturing partners and blends all remain unchanged and as great as ever.”

DIESEL WHISKEY ROW Diesel has teamed with AJ Fernandez and Rabbit Hole Bourbon to create Whiskey Row, a cigar featuring binder aged in bourbon barrels. “The partnership between Diesel and Rabbit Hole speaks of going against the grain in traditional industries,” said Diesel’s senior brand manager, Justin Andrews, in a press release. “Rabbit Hole doesn’t claim to use 12 year old juice or have a 6th generation master distiller, much like Diesel doesn’t claim to be an old Cuban brand or have tobaccos that have been aged for 20 years. Both Rabbit Hole and Diesel are young, energetic brands with a unique go-to-market strategy. We knew the first time both companies sat down, there was a tremendous amount of synergy.” “A lot of passion went into this process and I am very pleased with the results,” said A.J. Fernández. “Aging the binder leaf in the bourbon barrels added an unexpected layer of flavor and aroma right beneath the wrapper.” The Diesel Whiskey Row blend comprises Nicaraguan tobaccos — from Ometepe, Condega and Jalapa — aged five to eight years. The wrapper is a five-year-old Ecuadorian Habano. It ’s available in four vitolas: Robusto (5 ½ x 52), Toro (6 x 54), Churchill (7 x 49) and Gigante (6 x 60). They range in price from $7.49 to $8.99 per cigar.

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Rocky Patel Sun grown Maduro Four Roses bourbon Blackberry Smash The most rewarding element of working with Republic National Distributing’s staff mixologist David Ortiz is not his creativity and breadth of knowledge in the field, but rather his ability to teach a hapless group of hacks how to make killer drinks. So we selfishly enlisted his help in mixing cocktails again for this issue’s Perfect Pairings. We loaded our travel humidor with maduros and drove up to David’s office, a fully stocked bar that only qualifies as an “office” because there’s a laptop in there. Nice work if you can get it. We agreed he’d make the Four Roses Bourbon Blackberry Smash and decided to figure out which maduro worked best with it. Here’s the recipe:

1. Begin by crushing ice; if done properly you should finish relieved of any and all stress in your life. After crushing, set the ice to one side.

2. Drop a couple of fresh mint leaves into a julep cup or similar drinkware.

3. 3 blackberries. 4. 1 oz simple syrup. 5. Pour in 2 oz of Four Roses Bourbon Single Barrel and muddle all the ingredients.

6. Overfill the mug with crushed ice. 7. Garnish with a smacked mint leaf and three skewered blackberries on top. The drink delivers a refreshing mix of mint and blackberry dancing above a boozy bourbon base, perhaps the most flexible cocktail we’ve ever paired with a cigar. You’ll love it because of the Four Roses Single Barrel, your lady friends will like it because the drink is purple and has a mint leaf on top, and your doctor approves it because blackberries are good for you! Boom! As for us, we liked it with a Rocky Patel Sungrown Maduro.

THE PAIRING The Rocky Patel Sungrown Maduro has an earthy profile with notes of bittersweet chocolate and pepper, while the drink has a good combination of sweetness and acidity. The way that the acidity in the drink makes your mouth water plays perfectly against the cigar’s earthiness, leaving the chocolate and blackberry to match up. You can play with the number of puffs you take in between sips of the drink to see what suits you best. Depending on your cigar and your palate, you might want to add or subtract a berry to tweak the sweetness and tartness of the drink. Enjoy!

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Plasencia Alma Fuerte Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned The Old Fashioned is, as its name implies, an old cocktail said to have been invented in the late 1800s by a Kentucky bartender and taken to the bar at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria where it was “born.” It is a classic and belongs on the first page of every amateur bartender’s repertoire. With the right ingredients it is quite easy to make, but it will take some practice to perfect. With the help of Republic National Distributing’s staff mixologist David Ortiz, we attempted to reach Ol Fashioned perfection. The no-brainer in all of this was deciding which cigar we would smoke with our improved Old Fashioneds. We paired the drink with our 2017 Cigar of the Year, the Plasencia Alma Fuerte. Here’s the recipe:

Pour 2 oz of Buffalo Trace into a mixing glass.

2. 1 oz of simple syrup. 3. 3 dashes of orange bitters. 4. 3 dashes of chocolate bitters. 5. Add ice to the mixing glass. 6. Stir until the liquid is cold but beware of overdiluting the drink.

Pour into a rocks glass through a strainer.

8. Add a 2-inch ice cube (the idea behind a large ice cube is that it dissolves slower giving you more time to enjoy your drink before it is diluted beyond recognition).

9. Slice off a 1½- to 2-inch piece of orange peel, give it a quick squeeze, and drop it in the drink.

10. Grate a light dusting of dark chocolate over the drink.

THE PAIRING This Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned is an elevated take on the classic Old Fashioned cocktail. The double attack of chocolate and orange in the drink by way of the bitters as well as the orange peel and chocolate dusting on the drink requires a strong spirit to balance it all out and the Buffalo Trace delivers in spades. When you combine the drink with the Plasencia Alma Fuerte’s smooth pepper and earth, you’ve got a winning combination. One interesting component is how the touch of chocolate in the drink accentuates the chocolate notes in the cigar. Could this be the Pairing of the Year? 28 | CIGAR SNOB | JULY / AUG 2018

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WHEN YOU’RE GETTING TO KNOW A NEW PLACE AND YOU’RE SHORT ON TIME, IT’S BEST TO HAVE A LOCAL WHO CAN SHOW YOU AROUND. THE NEXT BEST THING: GET RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE PROS AT THE GOOD LIFE. WE TURNED TO THE PEOPLE BEHIND SOME OF OUR FAVORITE CIGARS FOR THEIR PREFERRED PLACES IN THE CITIES THEY KNOW BEST.

South Pond Pavilion at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago

BY NICOLÁS ANTONIO JIMÉNEZ

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with Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars of his time in Miami (which is also home base for the Garcías of My Father Cigars). Despite all of L.A.’s showy scenes, his preference is for those old neighborhood haunts where the staff know his name and he can always count on a good meal. Credit: lafc.com

Pete Johnson got his star t in the cigar industry working at the Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. Today, he’s behind some of the most celebrated boutique cigars — with some of the most devoted fans — in the business, like Tatuaje and L’Atelier. Lately, he’s been spending a lot more

LA FC’s home, Banc of California Stadium

he Pete Johnson tour of Los Angeles starts with breakfast at Café Laurent (cafelaurent.com) in Culver City. “Culver City used to be one of those places no one wanted to go to and then it became one of these places that has a bunch of restaurants, nightlife, people walking the little village,” Pete said. “Café Laurent has outdoor seating and is a place to get big omelettes. It’s one of those purely breakfast and lunch places that closes in the afternoon. Good food, good portions, and you’ll never have a bad meal there.” Walk off your big omelette while people watching in Venice Beach. “It’s a good walk,” Pete said, “and you can see a cast of characters on Venice Beach. There are also good restaurants.” Among the Venice Beach restaurants Pete recommends are a Cuban fusion joint called Mercede’s Grille and an old coffee house called The Cow’s End (thecowsendcafe.com). If you’re not hungry, though, the best move on Venice Beach is to just wander around and take in the crowd, as Pete mentioned. The last time Cigar Snob was in L.A. working on a travel story, we took a couple of cigars with us and enjoyed them while we checked out the skate park, Muscle Beach, and street performers. Legal? Not quite, but nobody bothered us, and considering how loaded the area is with cannabis businesses, you figure the residents

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aren’t all that bothered by smoke. Light up at your own risk, but in our experience, the risk is low. Pete’s pick for lunch: The Ivy (theivyrestaurants. com). They have three locations, but Pete’s spot is the one in West Hollywood, where he says you’ve got a good shot at one of those celebrity sightings visitors to Los Angeles are always after. “It’s one of those places where you’re bound to see some celebrities having lunch,” Pete said. “I’ve seen Chris Hemsworth, and Neymar, Jr., for example. For dessert, try the coconut cake or the red velvet. They also have a great mojito with a stick of sugar cane.” Once you’re done here, it’s a quick drive (or a 25-minute walk) to State Social House (statesocialhouse.com), which is a must-visit bar for smokers on Sunset Boulevard. That’s because it’s the closest you’ll come to being able to eat, smoke and drink indoors. “It’s kind of designated as a patio because the roof is retractable. But you’re indoors, which is great,” Pete said. You probably won’t be able to get into the members-only Grand Havana Room unless you know someone. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the experience completely. As it turns out, the restaurant that supplies the food that’s served to Grand Havana Room members is

right downstairs. “Via Alloro (viaalloro.com) is an Italian restaurant. I go down there and eat dinner, have a bottle of wine, then go up to the Grand Havana Room and have a cigar to finish the night,” Pete said. “It’s a very simple Italian place. They make a good cacio e pepe.” You’ll want to make sure you’re not missing an opportunity to catch some soccer. L.A. is falling in love with the sport thanks to its two MLS franchises — LA FC and the Galaxy. “That’s a really cool thing to do especially now that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is there with the Galaxy.”

- Nearby Cigar Shops The V Cut Cigar Lounge 8172 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles thevcut.com Lone Wolf Cigar Company Two locations lonewolfcigars.com Hollywood Smoke 3110 Main St #106, Santa Monica hollywoodsmoke.com

with Liana Fuente of Arturo Fuente Cigars soming food scene. It’s also got major pro sports franchises, excellent weather, and — yes — more cigar rolling tables than you can shake a stick at. Here’s how Liana Fuente of Arturo Fuente Cigars suggests you spend your day in Tampa.

Credit: oxfordexchange.com

When Tampa comes up in cigar circles, conversation tends to turn to cigars. And why wouldn’t it? It’s called Cigar City for a reason. But there’s more to Tampa than tobacco. The Tampa Bay area is loaded with history, character, and a blos-

FROM TOP: The Bookstore at Oxford Exchange; Beer Pan Chicken at Ulele

“It has an open courtyard in the center of the historical building and it’s absolutely gorgeous. You can get coffee and read a book or bring your family. It’s an experience,” Liana said. Not an avocado toast kinda guy? Liana recommends West Tampa Sandwich Shop (westtampasandwichshoprestaurant.com) for a simple Cuban breakfast, or even just some Cuban coffee and Cuban bread. “Oh my God. From croquetas to medianoches, you can’t go wrong. To me, getting up in the morning and going there is the best. You can get your politics, your breakfast and your coffee all in one spot.” For lunch, head to Armature Works, a mixeduse building with a number of dining and bar options inside. Liana recommends Hemingway’s (hemingwaystpa.com), which offers Cubaninspired bowls, a bar, and some Cuban-style

sodas you probably won’t find back home. If you’re at Armature Works on a weekend, you might be able to catch some music on the Hillsborough River or an outdoor movie screening. A nearby lunch alternative is Ulele (ulele.com). “They have the best charbroiled oysters ever! They make Drago’s [in New Orleans] look like chump change,” Liana said. Weather permitting, and assuming you’ve already experienced Ybor City’s main drag and all its cigar stops, take the afternoon to enjoy the outdoors at the 8-acre Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. If you’re tired of staying on dry land, make a reservation with Riverwalk Boating Company (riverwalkboating.com) to take a mini-powerboat out onto Hillsborough Bay. Sports fan? Make sure you check on whether your trip coincides with an opportunity to see the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buccaneers, or Rays live. The Yankees also have a minor league team, the Tampa Tarpons, here. For dinner, head to Rooster and the Till (roosterandthetill.com). It’s a great restaurant for “adventurous diners” in its own right, but one of the most interesting things about the place is that

Credit: ulele.com

tart your day with breakfast at Oxford Exchange (oxfordexchange.com). It’s a unique community space that includes, among other things, a great restaurant that serves a breakfast menu with breakfast tacos, scrambles, avocado toast and pancakes.

they host an ongoing dinner series in which guests are fed by visiting chefs from around the country. “This is a foodie’s paradise,” said Liana. End your night with one of the two cocktail bars Liana suggests you check out. The first is a spot for more creative cocktails called Edison: Food + Drink Lab (edison-tampa.com). The other is a gin-centric speakeasy style bar called CW Gin Joint (cwginjoint.com). If you’re still hungry, both spots have excellent food, Liana said. “Edison has some of the best bartenders. The food menu always rotates and it’s all stuff that’s in season, and the homemade ice cream is great.”

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with Michael Herklots of Nat Sherman Given that the Nat Sherman Townhouse is located in Midtown Manhattan, it makes sense that that’s where Mike spends the bulk of his time. He knows

the area like the back of his hand, so he was ready with a minute-by-minute itinerary when I called him asking for help with this guide to a day in Manhattan. the Rock, the observation deck at Rockefeller Center. While you’re in the area, take a tour of NBC Studios (thetouratnbcstudios.com), which includes visits to the studios and a look at the process of creating a TV show.

FROM TOP: Street level at Times Square, the dining room at Pershing Square Café

or starters, Mike recommends staying in Midtown. “Midtown’s got the most buses, the most trains, the most stuff to see in a concentrated area,” he said. While there are loads of options in the area, Mike recommended checking into the Shelburne Hotel & Suites by Affinia (affinia.com/shelburne) and pointed to the hotel as the safest bet for a great location and a reasonable rate year-round. So you’ve landed and dropped your bags off at the Shelburne. You’re probably hungry. “Who eats breakfast in New York?” he said. “If you’re going to load up, though, you’re going to go to Pershing Square (pershingsquare.com), which is right across from Grand Central Station. Amazing breakfast.” If you prefer to start your day a little lighter than a full breakfast, you can head into Grand Central Station and get yourself a coffee and a pastry. While you’re in there, getting your shoes shined “is an absolute must” in Mike’s book. Don’t forget to take a look up at the “celestial ceiling,” a depiction of constellations in the night sky that actually contains a number of confusing mistakes. Appreciate its beauty, but don’t assume you’re learning to navigate. You’ll be needing cigars for the day. Pick some up at Nat Sherman Townhouse (natshermanintl.com) and keep the receipt. That’ll come in handy later. While you’re there, Mike recommends asking staff for a tour so you can check out the whole place.

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Light up and stroll down 42nd Street to Times Square. It’s still early enough for you to find tickets to a Broadway show at the TKTS booth (tdf.org) and see what tickets are for sale for the day’s Broadway shows. You don’t have to wait for your show to start the entertainment, though. “They’ve shut down areas of Broadway as a pedestrian thoroughfare. There’s all kinds of food trucks and street performers. There are these women called desnudas that walk around in body paint. You’ve got to get your picture taken with them and Elmo and then watch them fight each other over tips.” It can be hard to take in all of New York at once. Maybe the closest you’ll come is a visit to Top of

“Casa Lever has one of the biggest, if not the biggest Warhol collections, in the restaurant,” Mike said. “If it were my lunch, I’d be there for three hours and then heading to the show. But let’s say it’s a normal person lunch. Walk up 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue, zigzagging between the streets and shopping to your little heart’s content.” For dinner after your Broadway show, head to The Lamb’s Club (thelambsclub.com), which is owned by Food Network’s Geoffrey Zakarian. “Don’t underestimate the pastrami sandwich,” Mike said. “The pastrami is hand-carved tableside. And the ricotta and spinach agnolotti (with braised lamb shoulder and shiitake mushrooms) is ridiculous. It will change your life forever. End your night at the Carnegie Club on 7th Avenue (hospitalityholdings.com). Remember the thing about keeping your Nat Sherman receipt? If you bring it in on the same day, they’ll waive your cutting fee when you smoke the cigars you bought in the morning. “If you’re there on a weekend,” said Mike, “make sure you make reservations in advance for the Sinatra show.” Steven Maglio performs Sinatra’s songs every Saturday at the Carnegie Club. Credit: pershingsquare.com

Credit: iStock.com/franckreporter

For lunch, head to Casa Lever (casalever.com), then — if you’re visiting in the warmer months — enjoy a cigar at Casa Lever Gardens, where Nat Sherman has helped put together the seasonal outdoor lounge’s cigar program.

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JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

with Dion Giolito of Illusione Cigars Dion Giolito is known all over as the founder of Illusione Cigars, a boutique brand that makes heavy use of Aganorsa Leaf tobaccos. Their brands include Fume D’Amour and Rothchildes, both of which have made our Top 25 list.

What you might not realize is that he’s also the proprietor of Fumare, Reno’s premier cigar shop. We checked in with Dion to get his take on how we should spend 24 hours in the “The Biggest Little City in the World.” you’re either low on gas or hungry as hell. Probably both. Dion’s got the spot in Reno that can help you on both counts. “I’m not a big lunch person, but when I do have lunch, there’s a Pho café called Asian Pho attached to a 7/11 store and it’s legit,” he said. The generically named Pho joint is attached to a gas station c-store, along with a Wendy’s. And yet, people in Reno know better than to write it off. “Big boiling cauldrons of rendering animal parts in the back that make up the broth can be seen from the counter. It’s just right up the street from my warehouse, and just a little further up to Fumare Fine Cigar Boutique. Pho followed by a cigar and banter with the lounge rats is the best combination.”

Credit: toiyabegolfclub.com

If you prefer to take your cigar from Fumare someplace else, check out Craft Wine and Beer (craftreno.net) in Midtown Reno.

FROM TOP: The par 3 8th at Toiyabe Golf Club with the Sierra Nevadas towering the background, main hall at Craft Wine and Beer

Finally, if you’re following all of Dion’s recommendations, you’ll be having dinner at the same place you’re laying down your head at night: the Eldorado Resort Casino in downtown Reno (eldoradoreno.com). After a meal at Roxy (or any of the other restaurants at Eldorado), light your last cigar of the night at Centro Bar on the casino floor.

t was news to me when Dion said that Reno has a large population of Basque ancestry. As it turns out, the city even has an annual Basque Festival that’s been going on for more than half a century. So it makes perfect sense that when Dion’s looking for a great breakfast, he heads south to Carson City to eat at Villa Basque Café (villabasquecafe.com).

- Nearby Cigar Shops -

“We have a lot of traditional Basque restaurants, but this one is unique,” said Dion. “It’s about 25 minutes from Reno. It’s a mix of Spanish/Basque and Mexican, but they’re mostly known for their homemade Basque Chorizo. It’s a little out of the way, but well worth the trip.” Once you’ve fueled up with your Basque-Mexican fusion breakfast, hit the links. The Lake area is peppered with incredible golf courses from Sparks, Nevada to the north as far south as Nebelhorn on the opposite side of the Nevada-California border. “I’d recommend Toiyabe Golf Club (toiyabegolfclub.com) or Dayton Valley Country Club (duncangolfreno.com/dayton-valley). Toiyabe is really nice, and in the pines. Dayton Valley is an Arnold Palmer designed gem in our area.”

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“Ty, the owner, has a killer selection of off-sale packaged liquor, cidres, wine and beer,” said Dion. “Ty is a big cigar fan as well, and there’s a great spot out front to enjoy a cidre — my favorite — and a cigar. We often do events together either at his place or mine.”

Fumare Fine Cigar Boutique 7530 Longley Ln. #101 fumareusa.com If you’re not a golfer, said Dion, you might opt to instead explore Virginia City (visitvirginiacitynv.com). “It’s an old Silver mining town about 30 minutes from Reno,” he said. “It’s a great little town to walk around and visit the several great old-time saloons it has to offer.” You’ll also find loads of hiking trails and mine tours in this town of about 1,000. After driving around the Tahoe area for golf, silver mines, or some combination of the two,

Hatuey Cigars 1583 S Virginia St. hatueycigarsreno.com Tinder Box Smoke Shop 4991 S Virginia St. tinderboxreno.com Incline Spirits & Cigars 120 Country Club Dr. #25, Incline Village inclinespirits.com

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

with Glen Case of Kristoff Cigars During the nine years before he transitioned from the financial sector to the cigar business, Glen Case spent most of his working hours in downtown Chicago. Now his company, Kristoff Cigars, takes him on the road all over

the U.S., but Chicago is still home base. Here’s what a day there with the guy behind the Windy City’s best-known premium cigar brand might look like, from pancakes to piano bars.

our day starts in the Chicago Loop, the central district that’s up against Lake Michigan, just East of Greektown, with Streeterville (where you’ll find the Magnificent Mile shopping district) to the north and Central Station to the south. This pocket of Chicago is home to Grant Park, the Chicago Riverwalk and Willis Tower. “Breakfast would be at Wildberry Pancakes and Café (wildberrycafe.com),” Glen said. “It’s right in the loop area. Very popular place with great breakfast.” Wildberry — which has a traditional American diner breakfast menu that includes everything from omelettes to breakfast burritos to pancakes — has four Chicagoland locations, two of them in Chicago proper. The location in the Loop is right across from Millenium Park, where you’ll find Cloudgate and some of the best public spaces you’ll walk through anywhere in the country. You could easily spend half your day just strolling through this and all the adjacent parks, which include music venues, a museum, monuments, and great views of the city.

FROM TOP: View of Downtown Chicago from the DuSable Bridge; The Porterhouse at Chicago Chop House

for live blues or dueling pianos at The Redhead Piano Bar (redheadpianobar.com).

Wildberry is also a quick walk from the corner of Michigan and Wacker, which is where you’ll board for an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River led by the Chicago Architectural Foundation (architecture.org).

No matter where your baseball allegiances lie, Wrigley Field has to be on the to-do list of any sports fan visiting Chicago. “Go to a Cubs game,” Glen said, adding that you should explore the surrounding neighborhood. “Wrigleyville is a party in itself.”

“It might seem like it’s on the touristy side, but there’s great architecture downtown and it’s actually a fascinating tour,” said Glen. For lunch, Glen recommends an Italian spot called Italian Village (italianvillage-chicago.com). This multi-level three-in-one restaurant is the city’s oldest Italian eatery and has served a who’s who of Chicagoans and visitors. Each of the three restaurants in here offers something distinct: The Village, named that way for its Tuscan village theme, is a place for traditional Northern Italian fare; Vivere is the most modern of the three restaurants, focusing on new trends in Italian cuisine; and La Cantina brings you old mainstays as well as steak and chophouse dishes. Wherever you eat within Italian Village, you’ll have a ton of wine to choose from. At 1,200 different wines and more than 30,000 total bottles, Italian Village’s is likely the largest wine selection in the Midwest. If you’re not in the mood for Italian, Glen suggests heading across the river, just north of the Loop, for Billy Goat Tavern (billygoattavern.com), the iconic cheeseburger-cheeseburger-no-coke-pep-

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Credit: chicagochophouse.com

si-chips joint made famous nationally when it was lampooned on SNL by Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. Chicago has plenty of iconic, bucket-list restaurants to choose from for dinner. Glen recommends two steakhouses: Chicago Chop House (chicagochophouse.com), which is housed in a 120-year-old brownstone and oozes Chicago history; and Gene & Georgetti (geneandgeorgetti.com), a famous steakhouse that was once a favorite hangout of Al Capone. “It’s been around since the ‘40s,” Glen said about Gene and Georgetti. “It’s got that vintage mahogany look with the overstuffed red leather chairs. Awesome place.” End your night with drinks and live music. Glen’s a fan of Buddy Guy’s Legends (buddyguy.com)

- Nearby Cigar Shops Iwan Ries & Co 19 S Wabash Ave. iwanries-hub.com Jack Schwartz 141 W Jackson Blvd. jackschwartz.com Hubbard and State Cigar 6 W Hubbard St. facebook.com/Hubbard-State-Cigar-Shop BIGGS Mansion 1150 N Dearborn St. biggschicago.com Up Down Cigar 1550 N Wells St. updowncigar.com

with Reinier Lorenzo of HVC Cigars now and then. His days are generally dedicated to spreading the word about HVC cigars like San Isidro, which landed the No. 15 spot on our most recent Top 25 list, but here’s what he suggests you do if you’ve got a full day to enjoy Wisconsin’s capital.

Credit: Jeff Miller UW-Madison wisc.edu

Credit: sardinemadison.com

Shortly after arriving in the U.S. from Cuba, Reinier Lorenzo found himself in the Midwest working in, of all things, a genetics lab where he was dealing with stuff like artificial insemination of livestock. His laboratory days are behind him, but the cigar business still takes Reinier back to Madison every

political protests. But there’s an event that brings everyone — left, right, clothed and nude — together on Saturdays. “You’ll want to go to the farmer’s market they do around the capitol building on Saturdays,” Reinier said. “The food is great there, whether it’s fresh produce or grilled cheese or whatever else.”

FROM TOP: Terrace at Memorial Union; Pan-Roasted halibut at Sardine

t’s better known as a college town (home to the University of Wisconsin Badgers) and as the cradle of the American progressive movement. But what you might not figure is that Madison is, pound-for-pound, one of the best food towns in the country. That’s partly because of its proximity to Chicago — lots of Chicagoans come here looking for a quieter lifestyle — and Wisconsin’s deep obsession with great cheese and sausage. “Graze is my favorite place for brunch,” said Reinier, starting his Madison tour with a restaurant right smack in the center of the city (grazemadison. com). “And it has floor-to-ceiling windows, so you get a good view of the state capitol building.” Graze’s brunch starts at 9:30 on Saturdays and Sundays. The food is reliably excellent, and this is about as good a time as any to put in an order of fried cheese curds. Despite not being all that big in population, Madison is a surprisingly walkable, urban-feeling town. That’s due in part to its sitting right between two massive lakes — Monona and Mendota. To get to the UW campus, you’ll likely either walk along the lake (lots of great pedestrian and bike paths around there) or take State Street, which is the main dining, drinking and shopping drag. The campus is right up against the shore

of Mendota, and UW’s most popular hangout (in fact, the whole city’s most popular hangout) is the Memorial Union. It’s a massive terrace area with a view of the lake that serves excellent beer and pub food. When there aren’t outdoor movie screenings, concerts and other events, you can usually enjoy your beer while watching boats sail around on the lake. Provided it’s not frozen, of course. Tip: In order to buy beer at the Memorial Union, you’ll need either a university ID or a guest pass, which you can obtain the day of your visit at union. wisc.edu. For lunch and a cocktail, head back downtown to Merchant (merchantmadison.com). They’ve got excellent locally-sourced pub food, including lamb sliders, salads and house-made pastas. “It’s also a great cocktail bar. They do a good job and make great drinks,” said Reinier. Their cocktail repertoire and selection of spirits are both extensive, but you might want to start by asking for a Wisconsin Old Fashioned (like the original, but made with brandy instead of whiskey) so you can cross the state’s official cocktail off your to-drink list. In the warmer months, the area immediately surrounding the state capitol building is always buzzing with concerts, parades, naked bikers, and

There’s a ton to do around here, but with the exception of a single cigar bar (see our list below), there aren’t many places to smoke indoors. That said, downtown area is a great place to stroll with a cigar. There’s great architecture to see all over and there are plenty of lakefront parks you can lounge in. For dinner, Reinier suggests you hit one of three spots, all walking distance from the capitol: Harvest (harvest-restaurant.com), which was named one of the 20 best restaurants in the country by Organic Style; L’Etoile (letoile-restaurant.com) for upscale seasonal offerings; and Sardine (sardinemadison.com), a lakeside bistro and bar founded by Chicago-native restaurateurs.

- Nearby Cigar Shops Drackenberg’s Cigar Bar 605 N Sherman Ave. drackenbergs.com Maduro 117 E Main St. facebook.com/Maduro-176404202955/ Tasting Room of Monona 6000 Monona Dr. #103 tastingroomofmonona.com

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

with Kurt Kendall of 7-20-4 Cigars This tour of New Hampshire guided by Kurt Kendall covers more ground than any other page in this travel section. You’ll be renting a car if you want to follow his lead, which takes you from New Hampshire’s Atlantic

coast to the lake region and into Hooksett and Londonderry, where Kurt has two of the region’s premier cigar bars. Buckle up, pack some butane and enjoy the scenic route. cave, especially if you live in a relatively young city like Miami where you won’t find this sort of thing quite so easily. When you’re done antiquing, make sure you drive around to the opposite side of Lake Winnipesaukee for the New Hampshire Boat Museum (nhbm.org). “They have this antique boat called the Millie B; it’s a replica of a 1928 Hacker-Craft,” said Kurt. “It’s kind of a touristy thing, but sometimes I just get myself a ticket to relax on that boat on the lake.”

FROM TOP: Tugboats in Portsmouth Harbor; Allagash on tap at New England’s Tap House Grille

ou’re a generous person, which is why you’re starting your day not with breakfast, but with a little shopping at Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett. The shop has tons of items that are made right there in the state, so you’ll have an easy time picking up gifts for friends and family who are expecting mementos. Conveniently, the country store does have a restaurant. Kurt recommends getting yourself pancakes or eggs or both at Roots, the café at Robie’s (rootsatrobies.com).

“For a long time, this has been a stop for presidential candidates on the campaign trail,” Kurt said. Follow breakfast with a smoke at one of Kurt’s Twins Smoke Shop locations, then head to Londonderry for lunch at Harold Square (haroldsquarenh.com). It bills itself as a New York restaurant, but Kurt suggests you stay away from the pizza and bagels. “I love the Nitro Chicken Sandwich,” he said. “It’s got chicken tenders, cheddar, bacon, ranch and nitro sauce.”

Full disclosure: After talking to Kurt and doing some extensive Googling, I still have no idea what nitro sauce is. But I’ve seen photos of this sandwich and am now determined to find out.

Credit: allagash.com

Kurt’s shops (one in Hooksett and the other in Londonderry) are known for, among other things, being home to an impressive collection of tobacciana. For those of you who haven’t brushed up on your tobacco vocabulary flash cards, that’s tobacco-related collectibles. And a lot of it was purchased at the Laconia Antique Center (laconiaantiquecenter.com) about a 40-minute drive north of Hooksett. It’s a massive antique shop in a building that began as a 1950s department store. You’ll find everything from china to books to old advertising. It’s a great place to stock up on decorations for your man

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Next, you’ll drive about an hour to Hampton, New Hampshire for dinner at CR’s The Restaurant (crstherestaurant.com). It’s an upscale American restaurant near the ocean end of the Massachusetts-New Hampshire state line. The exposed beam ceiling and stone fireplace make it a comforting spot for excellent food, a great wine list, and sometimes live music. Weather permitting, take dinner out to the patio area. “I’d recommend the veal chop here,” Kurt said. Finally, end the night in Hooksett with craft beer and bar food at New England’s Tap House Grille (taphousenh.com). “They have vintage beers on draft and a really good whiskey selection,” Kurt said. If you’re not into the idea of all the driving and prefer to stay put and take in seaside views, Kurt recommends you just book a room at Wentworth by the Sea (wentworth.com), a seaside resort just outside of Portsmouth that offers great dining, golf, tennis, and a Winter Wine Festival that runs late January to late February.

- Nearby Cigar Shops Twins Smoke Shop Two Locations (Hooksett and Londonderry) twinssmokeshop.com Federal Cigar 36 Market St., Portsmouth federalcigar.com Castro’s Back Room Multiple Locations castros.com Two Guy’s Smoke Shop Multiple Locations 2guyscigars.com

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

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AS A HIGH SCHOOL STAR, NFL LEGEND, BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST, EMMITT SMITH HAS ALWAYS BEEN RUSHING TOWARD HIS NEXT GOAL. JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

mmitt Smith’s résumé is impressive. NFL Hall of Fame, three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys (1993, 1994, 1996), NFL record for most all-time rushing yards (18,355), and even winner of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2006. That’s a list many would envy, but there is much more to Emmitt than the player we may have seen on the field, on an ESPN set, or sliding across the dance floor. Now 49 years old, Emmitt cherishes his role as a father and role model. A passionate businessman, he keeps goals in mind and works tirelessly with his charitable foundation to make a difference in his community. And when he gets a chance, the legendary former running back grabs a smoke, plays some golf, and does some traveling. He’s also found a passion for cycling, even hosting the Emmitt Smith Gran Fondo, a bike ride fundraiser for Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities, his non-profit he leads with his wife Pat. The Hall of Famer met with me at one of his businesses in Dallas, The Gents Place, an upscale barber shop where you can grab a haircut, shave, and maybe a glass of whiskey. Emmitt spoke about his life in football, business, charitable endeavors, and why he’s taken to cycling to keep in shape. SC : Do you remember your first cigar? E S : I think my very first cigar occurred on the golf course right around ‘98. When you’re playing golf with Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley and Charles Oakley, and a number of athletes, and they’re smoking cigars and so forth, you’re like, “OK, I can try this.” No one really talked me into it. It was just something that I thought, “I don’t smoke cigarettes. I want to try a cigar, I can get into the cigar thing.” I like to smoke when I’m playing golf, just to take away the monotony of focusing all the time on the golf ball. Relax a little bit, puff, puff, let a little smoke out in the wind and just enjoy a walk down the fairway. Of course, if I’m going to be honest, I don’t spend a lot of time in the fairway. I spend a lot of time in the rough. [laughs] So having that cigar kind of makes golf a little easier.

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I’m usually in the rough too. When you’re out on the course, what’s the cigar you find yourself smoking most often?

as a grocery shopping center or mixed-use deals that are around medical facilities like we did at Johns Hopkins University.

My favorite is JFR; I like the big rings. I like some of the Cohibas with the gold wrapper. La Gloria Cubanas were the first ones that I really started to gravitate to.

So that’s my major focus in terms of development. But the other company that we started this year is a new joint venture partnership where we are doing brokerage services, tenant rep business, office, industrial, retail, medical office space, and data centers. We represent clients and tenants who are looking for a new space or looking to liquidate space. Corporate services – those are the things we do under ESmith Advisors.

I understand your daughter is about to graduate from college. Will there be a cigar celebration? Yes, my daughter Jasmin’s graduating this weekend from Duke University. So we’re flying there tomorrow, and when I leave here I’m probably going to go by my cigar spot and pick up some JFRs to take with me this weekend to celebrate the whole entire weekend.

“I LIKE TO SMOKE WHEN I’M PLAYING GOLF ... I SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN THE ROUGH. SO HAVING THAT CIGAR KIND OF MAKES GOLF A LITTLE EASIER.” And with those three Super Bowl wins, surely there had to be a celebratory cigar back in the ‘90s? No, back in my heyday when I was actually training for sports I didn’t do any of those things outside dipping. I was in meetings, which got to be boring because I knew everything that was going on. And I thought if I had a dip in my mouth I wouldn’t fall asleep. So a dip kept me awake. [laughs] You’re a businessman these days. What kind of thing are you involved in in life after football? My major focus is development – real estate services. We’re in the real estate business space all the way from front to the end. When I say front to end, my company ESmith Legacy Holdings is the parent company of the many companies that we own. We build mixed-use complexes like what we’re in right now that have apartments above retail or retail shopping centers that have an anchor tenant, such

EJ Smith Construction gives us great construction options to help us manage the cost of the contracts, where we supply materials to ourselves and also materials to others. It’s an infrastructure company in the construction commercial space and commercial civil space. So we do both commercial development as well as the civil infrastructure, roads and bridges, parking garages, and a lot of big infrastructure work. From a construction standpoint we’re in the Texas space, and growing our footprint to do construction management on a national basis. And then we have ESmith Horizons, our investment arm in terms of investing in America’s infrastructure – roads and bridges, dams, schools, anything that the government may need financial assistance with. So through our partnership there, we have number of dollars that we are able to allocate to these types of things. I don’t think many people know how much you are involved in the business and real estate world. Has construction and building always been a passion of yours? Construction is something that I became fascinated with through a coach when I was younger. When I was 11 years old, my coach Charlie Eggert in Pensacola, Florida, taught me how to read blueprints. I didn’t know he was in the construction space, I thought he was just my football coach. The reality is he owned his own construction company and taught me how to read blueprints and floor plans. I was inspired because here you have a young African-American kid that’s coming out of meager beginnings who started in a humble spot. I grew up with powdered milk, government cheese, on government services, and food stamps. And here this white man had taken to me as an athlete, started to pour into my life in a way that opened my mind to what the possibilities of life could be like even without football.

I understand it completely now because I understand how the real estate game is actually played. What are some challenges athletes face moving from pro sports to life after retirement and what advice would you give others facing this? The challenge is twofold. Number one, the biggest challenge is letting go of what you have done since you were a child. I played football since I was 8 years old and missed only one year. So that was a challenge of letting go after having a 15-year career in the NFL. Yes, I did go to college, but I played football while I was in college and football got me to college. And then football led me to the NFL and that probably led me to other things that I’m doing now. I think the challenge is letting that go because when you’ve done something so long, it’s hard to believe there’s something else you could do. Number two is finding something else that gets you as passionate about life after the game as it did while you were playing the game. You have to have the same courage that allowed you to play football and persevere throughout all those years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice that you made for your sport. You have to find something to substitute for that and that keeps you competitive, keeps you getting up every morning, and enjoying life, yet excelling in life.

I was inspired by his house, which was bigger than where we grew up and thought, “Wow this is fascinating. This is something new.” From that point on, I always wanted to make my own way. I always wanted to have a job, to be a provider, and take care of not only myself, but do something that would give me the ability to take care of my family. On that same note, how do you see your work making a difference? I love what I do because it affects lives. It

changes lives when you start understanding the real estate game from the perspective from which I sit. I come from these urban neighborhoods that lack services. And now I sit here after a 15-year career and living in an affluent neighborhood, and understanding the services that I have the pleasure of enjoying every day and remembering where I came from. I understand the services that are missing; people in the urban or inner city or impoverished areas have to travel to a grocery store that’s over five miles from their house. And so

Charlie Eggert instilled in me the entrepreneurial spirit that I have right now. That opened my mind when I was playing the game to be able to ask questions of people here in Dallas-Fort Worth that I’ve met through football. People like Barry Andrews, who owns Andrews Distributing. People like Mark Cuban, who made his living in the tech space. My owner Jerry Jones, who started out in oil and gas and put all his money in to acquire the Cowboys at a deficit. But yet he turned it around and now they’re a $4 billion company. And there were others like Magic Johnson, who took his platform and went from basketball into real estate and private equity. I’m a firm believer that your talent will make room for you. The question is, “Are you really willing to walk through the door of uncertainty with confidence?” Can you learn and be taught and be trained to be good at anything that you want to do? Since we’re discussing advice, what’s the best advice someone’s ever given you? The beautiful thing about my life is that I’ve been around great coaches who have given me tremendous advice. I’ve been around great

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

parents who have given me tremendous advice, and people from business who have given me great advice. And I was never one of those people who was afraid to ask questions. My mom shared with me, “Never forget where you come from, always extend a helping hand.” Once after scoring a touchdown against Memphis State, I did a dance in the end zone. After the game, which we won, my father said, “Son, what was that you did?” I said, “Dad they were ragging on me so much before the game talking about how I wasn’t going to do this and not going to do that, so when I scored I wanted to show them yes I am and you can’t stop this.” He said, “Son, the great ones don’t do things like that,” which left a question in my mind. If the great ones don’t do things like this, do I want to be great or do I want to be something else? In my mind, I wasn’t thinking about being great. I was thinking about leaving my mark, making an impression. God blessed me with a pretty good talent to do what I was able to do, so my father impacted me. My high school coaches impacted me – both Jimmy Nichols and Dwight Thomas. Dwight Thomas told me, “It’s only a dream until you write it down; then it’s a goal.” One day after I fumbled the ball three times in practice, Jimmy shared with me, “Son, you cannot play football for me laying the football down on the ground. Not a coach in America would trust you if you fumble the ball the way you did today.” So ball security became very important to me because in a roundabout way he said, “You will never amount to anything fumbling the football. The ball is the most important thing on the field.” And then you run into a guy like Jimmy Johnson who had this philosophy: “Some guys are up here, some guys in the middle, some guys in the bottom.” He also shared with me that when he gets on his best players, he’s sending a message not necessarily to that player. Even though that top performer may think it’s about him, it’s not. It’s about everybody because if they see the top guy getting in trouble with the boss man, that means they need to fall in line and need to measure up. So psychology-wise, I got the message. My high school coach Dwight Thomas said, “Never become satisfied with anything because the day you do, the growing stops.” I don’t ever want to stop growing and that philosophy plays out right now in Warren Buffett. Here’s an 87-year-old man who has all the money in the world, but yet gets up every day, exercising his brain. And doing it for what? He

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doesn’t need another dollar – and gives most of it away. He’s doing it because he’s motivated, stimulated every day. He’s passionate every day about life and helping people. Those are the leaders that I turned to. Some of these people in your life really made a difference for you and it seems you and your wife Pat are trying to do the same for others. Can you tell me about your nonprofit, Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities, and some of the work the organization does? We started the charity nine years ago and our motto is “building bridges to open doors.” I think it’s a tribute to not only our parents – my mom and dad and my wife’s mom and dad – but I think it’s a tribute to the Charlie Eggerts of the world. People who poured into us at times when they didn’t have to. But they did, to give us this sense of awareness of not only our ability to do great things in the world and make an impact in the world, but helping us understand we have what it takes to be successful. Through our charity, we feel like we have a sense of obligation to do that for others. I call it “inspiring others to their level of greatness.”

“THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER THAN WINNING [A SUPER BOWL] AND HAVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE IT WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE THE MOST.” I want to open the doors of opportunity for others. Today in society, it’s a big push for minority participation on a global basis: men, women, LGBT. All those things are paramount. Equal opportunity is paramount in society in order to alleviate that deficit. I believe we have to have cohesive buy-in to the vision of the United States and that vision has to come from the leader of our country. If that vision does not include the diversity within this homeland, then there are a lot of people being left behind. Giving back is important to me and it was important for my mom. Every time I achieve a level of success, I always hear in the back of my mind her saying, “Never forget where you’ve come from. Always extend a helping

hand to people in need.” And I don’t have to talk about how poor America’s school system really is, and how much lack of support our teachers get. How crowded some of the school classrooms really are. Not to mention other challenges we face as a society – psychological challenges and broken homes. All of that coupled with lack of hope. When you sit in a position where you’ve come from these places, you have a tendency to empathize with people who have great potential but a lack of opportunities. For me to sit in this place and not to try to bring services to my community, that would be a tragedy. And it’s challenging. I must admit, it’s even challenging for a guy like myself. Because in this world, I’ve come to find that if it’s not top of your mind, it’s not even on your radar. People are comfortable with being successful on their own. And as an athlete, society wants us to be humble. They want us to be engaging. But at the same time, I say to society, “Have you forgotten where you came from?” I’m a firm believer that nobody becomes successful by themselves. To whom much is given, much is required. That’s the message. And if you’ve been given and have had the opportunity to become successful, sometimes it’s better to be connected in the community than to just send your dollars to the community. You might get better rewards in terms of spiritual rewards or open heart rewards when you bring a piece of yourself back to the community. Many Emmitt Smith and football fans may not know how much you’re into cycling and that your charity now runs a major bicycle ride fundraiser. Can you talk about the Emmitt Smith Gran Fondo and how you got into cycling? I got into cycling through some brokers I worked with. They were top producers within our company, competitive people. They liked to ride and introduced me to cycling. I bought a bike and I started riding. If I go out and ride my bike for an hour and a half, I can burn 1,000 calories, which is significant for a retired athlete. I also found that my body felt great. My body wasn’t as sore the next day as it would be if I was lifting weights or running because I don’t feel like I can run anymore. Wait a second, NFL rushing king Emmitt Smith can’t run anymore? No, I’ve run the life out of these legs after 18,355 yards and being hit an ungodly amount of times. If I had to get away from something or go save someone, I probably would do it and not think much of it. But afterward I’d be

“EVERY TIME I ACHIEVE A LEVEL OF SUCCESS, I ALWAYS HEAR IN THE BACK OF MY MIND HER SAYING, ‘NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU’VE COME FROM. ALWAYS EXTEND A HELPING HAND TO PEOPLE IN NEED.’” suffering. I found when I got on my bike and rode 20 or 30 miles, I would get up the next day feeling fine and had burned almost 1,000 to 2000 calories and that’s a great feeling. The key now is about being heart healthy and being physically healthy to enjoy the rest of my life. The Emmitt Smith Gran Fondo is a 100-mile ride but within that we have a 100K, a 45-mile ride, a 22-mile ride, and we have what we call a “family ride,” which is a couple miles around the venue. Within that 100-mile ride, we have professional cyclists who are competing for a purpose. It’s a fun day. It’s exciting, and a cool event. It’s an event that is constantly growing and I can envision this turning into something that could be a major weekend here in Dallas. Since we’re talking a bit about athletics and sports, let’s move on to football. Can you describe the feeling of walking out of that tunnel for your first Super Bowl in 1993? I was at the Super Bowl in 1987 with my best friend during my senior year in high school. I was named Gatorade National Football Player of the Year, and it afforded me two tickets to Pasadena, California. We watched the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants, and the Giants kicked the hell out of them. My best friend and I were sitting in the stands in the Rose Bowl. As an athlete you’re in an atmosphere that provokes this excitement, this

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energy like, “Man I want to be on that football field and play.” Fast forward six years later to 1993, the Cowboys are playing the Buffalo Bills in Pasadena. That moment just walking out of the tunnel in my first Super Bowl and all my aspirations and dreams are right before me – not knowing what’s going to happen on the other side of this game. The excitement, the energy, nervous energy, being able to walk into that stadium and look up into the stands and see not only my best friend Johnny up there with his dad, his mom, my family, and people that I knew back in Florida. Being able to perform in front of them was unbelievable. So again, my dreams of becoming a professional athlete, a professional football player, playing for the team I always wanted to play for, the Dallas Cowboys, playing in the Super Bowl in the stadium that I wanted to play in, and seeing my people around – there’s nothing sweeter than winning it and having an opportunity to share it with the people you love the most. There are Cowboys fans all over the country, so I have to ask about the team. It’s been 22 years since America’s Team won a Super Bowl and they have only two playoff wins in that span. What’s your opinion of where the Cowboys are headed? I think the Cowboys are going through a transitional phase, and may be trying to figure out

how to accelerate this transitional phase so we don’t lose. With the retirement of Jason Witten and the release of Dez Bryant, it makes things a little uncertain. But the game of football is full of uncertainties to everybody. No matter how you look at it, you could be a team that has a positive impact saying, “Yes we have a chance to go back and repeat,” like Philadelphia. Or you could be a team like the Giants where everybody wrote them off last year, but they drafted a running back like Saquon Barkley, and now have all these wide receivers. All of a sudden your season can turn around. I think the Cowboys are probably in that position to where things can be uncertain, but there is tremendous opportunity. And they have had a way of finding great talent in uncertain places in recent years. So it’s going to be interesting to see how our team shapes up and how they accelerate going forward. What might people reading this interview be surprised to learn about you? That I’m an introvert in the sense that I don’t do well around big crowds. I don’t think I do, anyway. I’ve learned how to be engaging. But it’s like too much stuff is going on around me and everybody’s pulling you in a thousand different directions. It becomes uncomfortable because it’s something that you can never

Ask for it by name, In fine cigar stores near you JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

62 | CIGAR SNOB | JULY / AUG 2018

Emmitt Smith has found cycling to be an ideal way to keep in shape in retirement, and even created the Emmitt Smith Gran Fondo to raise money for his foundation’s youth mentorship and back-to-school programs.

control, and I have no clue how much is going to come my way. So I think when I get home it’s my only place of sanity because I get to zone out and be normal. I get to be dad, I get to be husband, I get to be brother, I get to be uncle, I get to be friend – to people that I’m really close to. Because when you think about it, it can be 300 million people that I could shake hands with, but number 300,000,001 that doesn’t get the handshake is the person that is mad. And that person’s then on Twitter talking about how bad I am, how impolite I am. Then all of a sudden this groundswell starts happening. Fame is a double-edged sword. What’s your advice on being a good dad? I think a good dad shoots straight with his kids. Although the balance is understanding you once were a kid yourself. I tell my kids, “I know the tricks, so you can try to fool me all you want. You can say what you want to say, but I know the tricks because you ain’t doing

anything new that your daddy didn’t do.”

enjoy Rome and Florence in Italy also.

I think being a good dad gives you the balance of understanding that they are children and as kids they will make mistakes. But a great dad says, ‘I’m going to give you as much information as you can handle because I don’t know when God will call me home. I don’t want you to live the rest of your life not knowing some information – and here’s the information I want to give you. I’m going to give you as much and as often as I possibly can, so you can never, ever say ‘my dad never said this.’

I just want to be happy no matter where I go. I’m open to go places I’ve never been before just to try it out as long as I have the right person with me, which is my wife. Then it’s all good.

You still do a lot of traveling. What are some of your favorite places to visit? I travel so much, but there’s no place like home. I’m like Dorothy trying to click my heels to get back home. But my wife’s favorite place is Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and I’ve become a big fan as well. California also, San Diego is a beautiful place. I’ve become very fond of L.A. as well. New York is a tremendous city to visit and has so much to offer. My wife and I really

The Emmitt Smith Gran Fondo will be held Sept. 22 in Dallas. For more information and to register visit www.EmmittSmithGranFondo.com. The event raises funds to provide programming for the charity’s TEAM 22 mentoring and leadership development program and the annual Back to School Program. Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio. com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.

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54 cigars JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

CHURCHILL Davidoff Year of the Dog

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$ 39.00

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Churchill 7 50 Ecuador Dominican Republic Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

San Cristobal Elegancia

A creamy, flavorful blend with a perfectly balanced profile of cedar, leather, soft spice, and caramel. Consistently well made and covered with a light brown, supple wrapper with minimal veins. Draws perfectly and leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

$ 7.65

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N I CA R AG UA

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Churchill 7 50 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

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Gilberto Oliva Reserva Blanc

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This Churchill opens with a pepper and spice kick that quickly settle to incorporate notes of cedar, cream, and leather with a bit of cinnamon on the finish. Mild to medium bodied and covered with a beautiful, golden colored wrapper with sheen.

$ 6.90

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Churchill 7 50 Ecuador Ecuador Nicaragua

Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Champagne VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Churchill 7 54 USA/Connecticut Nicaragua Nicaragua

Brick House Connecticut

Smooth and ultra-consistent with a core of soft spice, cedar, and nuts complemented by a touch of vanilla cream. This well-constructed Churchill draws and burns well, leaving behind a solid, compact ash. Mild to medium bodied.

$ 8.75

N I CA R AG UA A thick, consistently well-constructed cigar covered with a clean, even-colored wrapper with a velvet feel. Smooth flavors of nuts, earth, pepper, and cedar accompanied by a hint of vanilla. Mild to medium bodied.

$ 7.00

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N I CA R AG UA

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Churchill 7 1/4 50 USA/Connecticut USA/Connecticut Nicaragua

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EP Carrillo Core Plus Natural

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C

Flavors of vanilla, nuts, and soft spice joined by subtle hints of coffee and leather in the aroma. This mild to medium bodied blend is covered with a thin, light brown wrapper with a supple feel.

$ 8.10

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Churchill Especial No. 7 7 49 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

A mild to medium bodied blend covered with a light, reddish brown wrapper and topped with a neat triple cap. Flavors are dominated by wood and spice with subtle hints of coffee and leather. Draws well and leaves behind a flaky ash.

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GRAN TORO Rocky Patel Vintage 1990

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$ 11.75

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Sixty 6 60 Honduras Honduras Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Asylum Straight Jacket

Produces an excellent smoke output with notes of chocolate, bing cherry, and tanned leather balanced by earth and subtle pepper on the palate. This medium bodied cigar is consistently well-constructed and finished with a clean, even-colored, dark brown wrapper.

$ 8.80

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N I CA R AG UA

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Toro Gordo 6 60 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

La Sirena

Well-balanced and flavorful with a profile of milk chocolate, roasted nuts, and leather accompanied by cedar and soft pepper. This consistently well-made cigar is covered with a clean, reddish brown wrapper with good oils.

$ 11.00

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N I CA R AG UA

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King Poseidon 6 60 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

Patoro Serie P

A large, flavorful cigar covered with a milk chocolate colored wrapper with a velvet feel. This medium plus strength blend has a core of pepper, earth, and cocoa complemented by an aroma of tanned leather and spice.

$ 11.36

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C

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Toro 6 58 Brazil Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

Pistoff Kristoff

Consistently delivers a perfect draw and a good burn leaving behind a solid, compact ash. This medium strength gran toro has a smooth profile of wood, cinnamon, and nuts complemented by a touch of vanilla cream on the finish.

$ 9.90

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C

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660 6 60 Mexico Indonesia Nicaragua

Epic Maduro Reserva

Smooth and consistent with a core of earth, oak, and red pepper balanced by a touch of ripe fruit and cinnamon on the finish. This medium strength smoke is covered with a dark, reddish brown wrapper and topped with a pigtail.

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$ 10.00

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H O N D UR AS

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Gordo 6 60 Brazil Cameroon Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Covered with a dark brown, slightly discolored wrapper with minimal veins, this medium strength gran toro produces an abundant smoke output with a musty, earthy profile complemented by subtle hints of cinnamon, cedar, and soft pepper.

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

TORPEDO San Lotano The Bull

$ 9.20

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N I CA R AG UA

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Torpedo 6 1/2 54 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

Casa Turrent Serie 1901

Neatly box-pressed and covered with a rich, reddish brown wrapper with excellent oils. This flavorful, medium plus strength torpedo has smooth flavors of soft pepper, cinnamon, and cocoa balanced by a bit of cedar and cream.

$ 9.00

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MEXICO

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Torpedo 5 1/2 50 Mexico Mexico & Nicaragua Mexico & Nicaragua

Balmoral Añejo XO

Short and beautifully soft-pressed, this medium strength blend is covered with a sweet, dark brown wrapper. Delivers balanced and nuanced flavors of dark chocolate, espresso, and subtle earth accompanied by a touch of orange cream.

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$ 11.28

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Torpedo 6 1/4 52 Brazil Dominican Republic Brazil, Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Beautifully balanced and smooth, this medium bodied figurado provides a perfect draw and burn producing thick, aromatic smoke. A sweet and woody core is complemented by notes of floral, bittersweet cocoa, and subtle earth.

Island Jim

$ 10.00

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H O N D UR AS

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Torpedo 6 1/2 52 Nicaragua Honduras Honduras

Debonaire Habano

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$ 1 4.00

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Belicoso 6 54 Nicaragua Dominican Republic Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Gurkha Evil

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Woody and slightly sweet complemented by notes of baker’s spice, coffee, and a touch of vanilla cream. Consistently well-constructed and finished with a clean, supple wrapper with a light brown hue. Draws well and produces a good smoke output.

$ 8.35

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N I CA R AG UA

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A funky-looking torpedo with a tri-tone head and an uncovered foot. Opens with a smooth, earthy profile joined by sweeter notes of leather, spice, and nuts as the burn progresses. This medium bodied blend draws perfectly and produces an excellent smoke output.

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Torpedo 6 1/2 53 Brazil Dominican Republic Nicaragua

Covered with a light brown wrapper with only minimal veins, this medium plus strength torpedo has a profile of dry wood, roasted chestnut, and pepper accompanied by a vegetal note on the finish.

CMY

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

TORO

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Don Pepín García 15th Anniversary Limited Edition

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Toro 6 1/2 52 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

Room 101 Farce

N I CA R AG UA An impeccably constructed large toro with a well-balanced and flavorful profile highlighted by notes of earth, nuts, toast, and smooth pepper complemented by a hint of citrus. This full strength blend is finished with a highly aromatic wrapper.

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$ 11.90

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Toro 6 52 Ecuador Indonesia USA, Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

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Mombacho Cosecha 2012

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Complex and flavorful, this medium to full strength blend delivers a core of cedar, roasted almonds, leather, and milk chocolate complemented by a rich, creamy finish. Consistently draws and burns beautifully, leaving behind a solid, compact ash.

$ 21.95

N I CA R AG UA VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Toro 6 52 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

Rocky Patel Royale

A balanced and complex blend with a profile of cedar, pepper, nuts, and a touch of earth delivered with a creamy texture. This consistently well made smoke is covered with a rich, reddish brown wrapper and topped with a cropped pigtail.

$ 10.55

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N I CA R AG UA

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Toro 6 1/2 54 Ecuador USA Nicaragua

Camacho Ecuador BXP

Delivers notes of cocoa, cinnamon, and sweet cedar balanced by a background of earth and soft pepper. This well-constructed, boxpressed blend is finished with a dark, reddish brown wrapper with sheen. Produces an excellent smoke output.

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$ 8.50

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Toro 6 50 Ecuador Brazil Honduras & Dominican Republic

Don Kiki Platinum Label

H O N D UR AS A beautifully box-pressed toro covered with a clean, supple wrapper with minimal veins. A perfect draw and an even burn produce an abundant smoke output with notes of coffee, nuts, earth, and soft pepper complemented by a touch of oak. Medium to full strength.

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$ 8.99

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$ 24.00

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N I CA R AG UA Toro 6 52 Brazil Nicaragua Nicaragua

Covered with a medium brown, slightly brindled wrapper, this medium to full bodied toro delivers a straightforward core of earth, pepper, leather, and a touch of roasted nuts. Provides a firm draw and leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

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TORO N I CA R AGUA VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Presidente 6 3/4 50 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

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Smooth and flavorful, this medium to full strength blend delivers a profile of up front pepper and cocoa accompanied by notes of tanned leather, soft earth, and a hint of caramel. Beautifully box-pressed and finished with a clean, reddish brown wrapper.

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Joya de Nicaragua Gran Reserva TAA Exclusive

$ 12.50

Rancho Luna

$ 7.50 VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Toro 6 50 Mexico Honduras Honduras

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An impeccably constructed cigar covered with a dark brown wrapper with a slightly toothy texture. Delivers a medium strength profile with a core of earth and soft pepper complemented by notes of dark chocolate and a touch of sweetness. Leaves behind a compact ash.

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H O ND U R AS

Archetype Axis Mundi

$ 12.4 4

N I CA R AGUA No. 54 6 54 USA/Connecticut Nicaragua Nicaragua

N I CA R AGUA Toro 6 54 USA Nicaragua Nicaragua

Kafie 1901 Don Fernando Maduro

$ 8.40

H O ND U R AS

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Toro Bello 6 54 Nicaragua Honduras Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

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Consistently well-constructed, this medium strength toro has a profile of earth, pepper, and charred wood with a hint of walnut and leather on the finish. Provides a perfect draw and an excellent burn, leaving behind a compact ash.

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Blanco Liga Exclusiva de Familia

$ 8.70 Covered with an exceedingly dark wrapper with slight discolorations, this medium plus strength blend burns perfectly, leaving behind a solid, compact ash. Delivers flavors of sweet earth, ripe fruit, and a touch of oak accompanied by a subtle hint of spice.

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La Gloria Cubana Serie R EstelÃ Maduro

$ 6.99

A dark and flavorful toro covered with an oily, slightly toothy wrapper. Medium plus bodied with a profile of earth, soft pepper, and molasses balanced by a touch of oak and dark chocolate. Draws and burns perfectly.

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Toro 6 52 Ecuador Indonesia Nicaragua

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Flavorful and consistently well-constructed. This medium plus strength blend opens with a burst of pepper, which settles to incorporate flavors of oak and roasted almonds complemented by an aroma of leather and floral.

VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

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N I CA R AGUA

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

ROBUSTO

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San Lotano Requiem Connecticut

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$ 7.40 VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Robusto 5 52 Ecuador Honduras Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Villiger La Flor de Ynclan

Beautifully balanced with a combination of caramel, nuts, and coffee on a background of pepper and cedar. This robusto is consistently well made and finished with a clean, light brown wrapper with minimal veins. Draws and burns perfectly.

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$ 11.00

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Robusto 5 50 Ecuador Indonesia Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Padrón Damaso

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C A balanced blend with notes of wood, honey, and cocoa complemented by subtle hints of spice and citrus. This mild to medium strength robusto draws and burns beautifully while producing an excellent output of thick, aromatic smoke.

$ 13.50

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N I CA R AG UA

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No. 12 5 50 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

Undercrown Shade

Impeccably constructed and covered with a golden colored wrapper with sheen. This mild to medium bodied offering delivers a profile of oak, vanilla, earth, and soft pepper held together by a creamy textured smoke. Leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

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$ 8.08

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Robusto 5 54 Ecuador Indonesia Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

La Galera Connecticut

N I CA R AG UA A mild to medium bodied robusto covered with a nearly flawless, thin wrapper with a supple feel. Consistently well-constructed with a profile of soft pepper, earth, and wood accompanied by a sweet creamy finish.

$ 5.25

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C

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Chaveta 5 1/8 50 Ecuador Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

CLE Connecticut

Covered with a golden colored wrapper with a velvet feel, this mild to medium bodied blend delivers a profile of sweet cedar, soft spice, and caramel accompanied by a subtle hint of floral in the aroma. Produces an excellent smoke output.

$ 7.62

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H O N D UR AS

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N I CA R AG UA

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Robusto 5 50 Ecuador Honduras Honduras

Consistently draws and burns perfectly while leaving behind a solid, compact ash. This mild to medium strength robusto delivers subtle flavors of cedar, earth, and baker’s spice complemented by a touch of caramel sweetness on the finish.

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Robusto 5 1/2 50 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

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Ultra-flavorful and complex with a profile of dark chocolate, pepper, and toasted almond complemented by earth and a touch of ripe fruit sweetness. This full strength robusto is impeccably constructed delivering a perfect draw and burn resulting in a solid, compact ash.

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Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez

$ 12.00

601 Blue Label Maduro

$ 8.00 VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Robusto 5 1/4 52 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

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A beautifully box-pressed blend finished with a dark, aromatic wrapper. This full bodied smoke has a core of earth, smooth pepper, and oak balanced by roasted nuts, espresso, and a rich, leather aroma.

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N I CA R AGUA

Dunhill Heritage

$ 10.15 VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Robusto 5 50 Ecuador Nicaragua Honduras & Nicaragua

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Burns flawlessly and produces an excellent smoke output with notes of almonds, pepper, and mocha accompanied by a touch of cedar and cream on the finish. This neatly boxpressed robusto is covered with a dark brown wrapper with good oils.

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H OND U R AS

Diamond Crown Maximus

$ 11.75 No. 5 5 50 Ecuador Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

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A flavorful, complex blend with a medium plus bodied profile of cedar, espresso, and bittersweet chocolate complemented by a long, almond cream finish. Consistently well made producing a solid, compact ash.

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D O MI NI CAN R EPUBLIC

Kristoff Sumatra

D O MI NI CAN R EPUBLIC

Robusto 5 1/4 54 Ecuador Brazil Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

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Covered with an oily, dark brown wrapper and finished with a neat pigtail and a covered foot, this medium strength robusto draws easy and delivers a core of pepper, sweet earth, roasted nuts, and espresso.

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$ 8.80

Alec Bradley Prensado

$ 9.90 Robusto 5 50 Honduras Nicaragua Honduras & Nicaragua

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A beautifully pressed robusto cloaked in a dark brown wrapper with minimal veins. This medium to full strength blend has a profile of wood, molasses, and nuts accompanied by notes of pepper and a touch of earth.

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H OND U R AS

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ROBUSTO

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Warped Guardian of the Farm

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$ 8.50

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JJ 5 1/4 50 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

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CAO Cameroon L’anniversarie

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$ 7.69

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Robusto 5 50 Cameroon Nicaragua Nicaragua

Diesel Whiskey Row

Impeccably box-pressed and finished with a clean, light brown wrapper with minimal veins. This medium bodied blend produces an excellent smoke output with notes of cedar, soft pepper, vanilla cream, and a touch of cinnamon and roasted nuts.

$ 7.49

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N I CA R AG UA

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Robusto 5 1/2 50 Ecuador Mexico Nicaragua

La Barba Purple

Superb construction and a flavorful profile covered with a clean, light brown wrapper with sheen. This medium plus strength robusto delivers a core of pepper, earth, bitter coffee, and oak complemented by a creaminess on the finish.

$ 9.90

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D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C

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Robusto 5 50 Ecuador Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

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Cornelius & Anthony Daddy Mac

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A creamy, woody blend with complementary flavors of cinnamon and vanilla with an herbal note on the finish. This medium bodied robusto is consistently well-constructed and covered with a clean, reddish brown wrapper.

$ 9.90

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Robusto 5 52 Brazil Ecuador Nicaragua

Saint Luis Rey Serie G

Covered with a beautiful, milk chocolate colored wrapper, this medium plus strength blend delivers flavors of earth and pepper accompanied by cedar, nuts, and a hint of citrus. Draws perfectly while producing an abundant smoke output.

$ 7.63

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H O N D UR AS

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Flavorful and well-balanced with a profile of sweet cedar, soft pepper, and coffee accompanied by notes of vanilla cream and baker’s spice. This medium strength cigar produces an excellent smoke output that is clean on the palate.

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Rothschilde 5 56 Nicaragua Nicaragua Honduras & Nicaragua

Opens with a flavorful profile with notes of cedar, nuts, cream, and a soft touch of spice. Flavors transition to a muted version of themselves after the 1st third. This medium bodied blend is covered with a supple, light brown wrapper.

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CORONA Jericho Hill

$ 9.60

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N I CA R AG UA

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JBV 6 1/2 46 Mexico Nicaragua Nicaragua

Sindicato

$ 11.00

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N I CA R AG UA

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Corona Gorda 5 1/2 48 Nicaragua Nicaragua Nicaragua

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Rocky Patel Fifteenth Anniversary

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Produces tons of thick, aromatic smoke with flavors of cedar, soft spice, and cocoa, accompanied by a rich, creamy texture. This medium strength blend is neatly pressed and covered with a supple, light brown wrapper finished with a tight pigtail and a covered foot.

$ 10.15

N I CA R AG UA VITOLA: LENGTH: RING: WRAPPER: BINDER: FILLER:

Corona Gorda 6 46 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

Liga Privada T52

A soft-pressed corona covered with a dark brown, oily wrapper. Produces rich, buttery flavors of espresso, earth, soft pepper, and semi-sweet chocolate with a long, lingering finish. This medium bodied cigar consistently provides a good draw and an even burn.

$ 12.08

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N I CA R AG UA

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No. 9 Corona Viva 6 46 USA/Connecticut Brazil Honduras & Nicaragua

Victor Calvo Cincuenta

A flavorful blend covered with a beautiful, dark brown wrapper with a bit of tooth. This medium plus strength corona produces tons of thick, aromatic smoke with notes of dark chocolate, molasses, and espresso balanced by charred oak, earth, and pepper.

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$ 8.75

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Corona 5 5/8 46 Ecuador USA Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

CAO Pilรณn

N I CA R AG UA Loaded with flavors of pepper, cedar, and cream complemented by notes of leather and peat in the aroma. This short corona is softpressed and covered with a beautiful, reddish brown wrapper with a supple feel. Medium plus strength.

$ 6.70

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N I CA R AG UA

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Flavorful and complex with a core of dark chocolate with smooth earth and pepper accompanied by notes of leather, espresso, and a hint of raisin. Soft-pressed and covered with a dark brown, toothy wrapper. Medium plus strength.

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Corona 5 1/2 44 Ecuador Nicaragua Nicaragua

Opens with a red pepper kick that settles to incorporate notes of cedar, cocoa, and caramel with a bit of earth in the background. This corona is covered with a good-looking, reddish brown wrapper with excellent oils.

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96 | CIGAR SNOB | JULY / AUG 2018

NICARAGUA

ON THE BRINK

APRIL 2018 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE MONTH SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UPHEAVAL BROUGHT TENSIONS TO A VIOLENT HEAD IN NICARAGUA. NOW THE NICARAGUAN PEOPLE, THE CIGAR INDUSTRY, AND THE WORLD ARE WAITING TO SEE WHETHER THINGS TAKE A TURN FOR THE BETTER OR COLLAPSE EVEN FURTHER. BY NICOLÁS ANTONIO JIMÉNEZ

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

hen you tune into the nightly news or scroll through online articles in your social media feeds, you’re probably not seeing a whole lot about Nicaragua. Let’s bring you up to speed. First the short version, then the long. The short version: The shit has hit the fan. Predictably, the long version is also more complicated. For the sake of context, you might need some background information on the country’s history and where the Nicaraguan government comes from. Almost all of this hinges on one guy, 72-year-old Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. Ortega joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front (or FSLN, the Spanish abbreviation) when he was a student in 1963. He was arrested in 1967 for insurrectionist activities and released in 1974, at which point he made his way to Cuba for some guerrilla warfare training from the Castros. By the time the FSLN overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, he had risen through the ranks of the movement and was tapped to join the junta that ran Nicaragua’s provisional government after the coup. In 1984, Ortega won a presidential election with more than 60 percent of the vote. His presidency was characterized, in part, by the typical Marxist move of nationalizing businesses. This is a period you’ll hear the old guard of Nicaraguan cigar making refer to as the biggest, most dangerous hurdle they’ve faced this side of Pinar del Río. Ortega remained in office from 1985 to 1990, when a free election brokered as part of the peace agreement that ended yet another civil war (this one between Ortega’s government and the Contras you’ve heard so much about) brought Violeta Chamorro into the presidency. Ortega was out of office, but he wasn’t out of politics. So active was his opposition that he came back to run for president three times — unsuccessfully in 1996 and 2001, then winning in 2006 and every five years after that. In that election, though, he won only 38 percent of the vote (the runner up had 29) and moderated his policy stances to a form of democratic socialism. Though Ortega toned down his Marxism, he didn’t go too far in loosening his kung-fu grip on power once he had his hands back on the wheel. Case in point, in his most recent electoral victory in 2016, he got more than 70 percent of the vote in a highly suspect election that was criticized for barring independent observers. That in a country that is currently on the brink of yet another civil war to unseat him less than two years later.

SO WHAT’S IT ABOUT THIS TIME? Nicaragua has 19 active volcanoes. I was always

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a terrible student, so I don’t remember how real volcanoes work. In the interest of not abandoning this metaphor — Nicaragua even has volcanoes on its flag — let’s imagine Nicaragua as one of those science fair volcanoes you pour stuff into until it erupts.

fire,” Nicholas said. “So there was talk the week before this all got crazy in April that the government had set these fires. I have no idea what evidence there is to support that, but I was down there and this was a big issue of concern. Everybody was talking about the fires of Indio Maiz.”

The first ingredient is also the one that took the longest to create: a general lack of confidence in the state as having Nicaraguans’ best interests in mind. This might seem silly. After all, who the hell really thinks they can count on politics? But the Sandinista movement is fresh enough in Nicaragua’s history that there is still a generation that remembers the sacrifices it made to bring Ortega and the FSLN to power all those decades ago.

The protests over Indio Maíz started April 12 with hundreds of marchers. The next ingredient in the science fair volcano came April 18, when an announcement was made that the Ortega regime intended to increase social security taxes while cutting pension payments to the elderly.

“There’s an important distinction to be made here,” said Juan Martínez of Joya de Nicaragua Cigars. “A large chunk of the population continues to identify as Sandinista in ideology and beliefs. Despite that, the Sandinistas who today call themselves Sandinistas in the sense that they’re affiliated with the party and are Orteguistas are more politically active, but they’re a minority. Not all [ideological] Sandinistas are in favor of what the government is doing now. That includes some of the historic Sandinistas who founded the party and are not in favor of the government reopening wounds of violence and bloodshed in Nicaragua.” The second ingredient, strangely enough, is a forest fire. See, at some point the Ortega government decided that it should team up with Chinese telecoms billionaire Wang Jing to build a new Central American canal in Nicaragua. The idea was to have it run near the southern border, cutting across the narrow stretch of land between the Pacific Ocean and the massive Lake Cocibolca before starting up again along the eastern half of the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border. But as the plans got shaky and Wang Jing’s ability to hold up his end of the deal became less certain, environmentalists began to make noise about the fact that the project would do damage to the Indio Maíz Nature Reserve. “That was a huge issue. A lot of protests,” said Nicholas Melillo, the Connecticut-born founder of Foundation Cigars who first arrived in Estelí in 2003. “And a week before all of this got out of control in April, there were massive forest fires in the Indio Maíz Reserve.” Managua newspaper La Prensa reported that two experts agreed the fires were started intentionally and without any kind of control in place. In other words, either someone was being careless or someone wanted it to spread. About 13,000 of the reserve’s 1.1 million acres were ablaze, and at least some of the Nicaraguan public was convinced enough that they knew who to blame. “People were outraged and all of a sudden it’s on

The general discontent — having been amplified by the canal issue and now the social security issue — was becoming a bona fide, but relatively modest protest movement. But the final ingredient, the one that would make all the others spill out over the top, was violence. The Ortega government began to respond to these protests with force, particularly through orchestrated attacks by pro-Ortega “Sandinista Youth” groups. “I’ve seen a lot of protests over the years,” Nicholas said. “This one was different because the protests started and a woman took a video from her house in Managua. In the video you see very clearly trucks of people with brand new white tshirts get out of the trucks and start beating up the protesters, chasing them down and chasing down the press that was on the scene. And then they jumped back in the trucks and took off. This video spread within two days. Nicaragua’s 6 million people and everybody’s got Facebook these days.” It’s tough to know how much that particular video, which went up April 18, did to spur the protests, but it and media like it played a role; just two days later, the protest movement had swept the country and the violence against the protesters had escalated. Two people were dead by April 20. The cycle of civilian protests and violent government response — sometimes through those Sandinista Youth groups, sometimes carried out by police or paramilitaries — has gone on more or less uninterrupted. At the time I’m writing this, the protests have been going on about 60 days. The death toll is about 285. For perspective, that’s more deaths in confrontations between protesters and the Nicaraguan government in 2 months than Venezuela has seen in protests that have been ongoing since 2014.

THE ESTELÍ ANOMALY Throughout, the upheaval, the cigar and tobacco city of Estelí — a bastion of Sandinismo since the early days — has been quiet compared to the rest of the country. There have been protests and deaths and crime, to be sure, but nothing on the scale that the rest of the country is seeing.

insulate it and Estelí from the effects of all this instability and uncertainty. Whether cigars and the town that makes them follow the rest of the country down this path will depend on how the political landscape changes and how quickly the state, civic leaders and everyday Nicaraguans can mend the wounds of this latest round of turmoil. Still, Nicholas remains confident that the people of Estelí recognize the important role the industry has played and won’t let things devolve to the point of putting that industry in jeopardy by antagonizing cigar makers and attacking their businesses.

Credit: INTI OCON/AFP/Getty Images

“Every family [in Estelí] has someone who is working or has worked for the cigar industry. If you take the cigar industry out, where is the fulfillment of jobs? There is no other industry there that can put that many people to work, so people are very conscious that this is how they support themselves and their families,” he said. “It might not be perfect, but the cigar industry has come a long way in its standards, its practices, insurance for employees, education for employees, things of this nature.” An anti-government demonstrator uses a slingshot during clashes with riot police at a barricade in the town of Masaya.

“The cigar industry is different,” Juan said. “That’s because 99.9 percent of our product is exported for consumption outside Nicaragua, so our industry has been blessed.” While the whole country has taken a hit economically, Estelí and its residents have been somewhat shielded from the worst of it because their economy is so connected to consumption of their luxury good by foreigners. A small number of factories, especially larger ones, have run into isolated absenteeism because some employees with long commutes to Estelí haven’t been able to get past the same roadblocks that have been slowing down the transport of cigars and tobacco to ports. “Our production has been affected by personnel not being able to get to work because of the roadblocks on the highways. Many of our workers commute from outside Estelí,” said Freddy Molina, the general manager at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez. Not having production at 100 percent means we fall behind on fulfilling orders. For a couple of days, there was no way to get cigars to the airport in Managua. That delayed shipments by three days to a week.”

factories. “We are an absolute exception to the rule in Nicaragua,” Juan said. “Throughout the country — in tourism, the service industry, every other sector — business has been affected.” Hotels throughout the country have begun to shut down. At certain points in this stretch, restaurants were reported to have been operating at as little as 15 percent capacity. Flights are arriving to Nicaragua practically empty. In this sense, Estelí is an oasis from the economic doom and gloom being faced by the rest of the country. “The most important business entity in the country is Grupo Pellas, run by Carlos Pellas,” said Wendy Guido, an alternate assemblywoman for the minority Conservative Party in the National Assembly, Nicaragua’s legislative body. “They own Mukul, the luxury resort which is the largest and most expensive hotel in the country. Pellas has closed it. That gives me the impression that other business owners, especially much smaller ones will have to do the same.”

AJ Fernandez employees have also been let out of work half an hour earlier than normal to help them avoid getting stuck in the protests and other crowds that might form after business hours.

Wendy told me that even the hospital the Pellas Group owns has been struggling to keep up with influx of patients after it offered to treat people wounded in the protests. Unemployment, she added, is starting to become an issue in some sectors of the economy.

Hiccups aside (some of them big hiccups, to be sure), things have been chugging along in Estelí

That the cigar industry’s consumer base is outside the country can go only so far for so long to

For now, most cigar makers seem to have found ways to make do, especially in the lead up to July’s IPCPR trade show Las Vegas, which premium cigar brands usually treat as the venue for their big reveals of new products. That means that they’ve needed to contend not only with the slowdowns in production, but also with the added complication of shipping product from Nicaragua to Las Vegas in time for the show “Luckily, we were very prepared,” said Nicholas. “A lot of my booth for the IPCPR was prepared and made in Nicaragua. We got everything through. I was on edge for a while and I was going to be on edge until the shipment hit the States. Shipments are coming through. It’s definitely backed us up and we’re behind a cycle on our shipments. We should be on track over the next couple of months as long as things don’t go crazy again.”

WHERE THINGS GO FROM HERE I’ve only been covering the cigar industry since the start of 2013. Even in that short time, Estelí has been transformed by the cigar industry. Sure, there’s poverty. But there’s also been a palpable sense of optimism on the street, in restaurants, and in the demeanor of the people you deal with around town. Maybe the most incredible thing about that is that even in this historical socialist stronghold, that optimism seems rooted not in the protectionist policies of a Marxist regime or trust in a paternal head of state, but in the benefits of living in a town driven by a diverse group of competing entrepreneurs making cigars for consumption in

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

the Yankee free market that Sandinismo demonized and even fought for so long. It’s not just the farms and factories, but the economic development that has come along with all that: hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, transportation, professional services.

Credit: RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP/Getty Images

If living through all that transformational change — and recognizing that it’s owed in large part to the private sector — kicked Estelí’s residents out of their rigid support for their Sandinista president, his violent response to protests against his policy has turned many to outright opposition. “[The violent response to protests] swayed a lot of people’s opinions,” Nick said. “I think everybody was shocked about how fast it went down. Because of how fast it happened, I tend to think that people were not happy and didn’t express it. Maybe there was a fear of expressing it.” Estelí’s optimism has given way to an anxiety about what the future holds and what the city and country will have to go through to get there. According to Juan, there’s effectively a self-imposed curfew of 6 p.m. because violent crime has spiked with the diversion of law enforcement resources and a general drop in confidence in those institutions. Other cigar makers have talked about their facilities’ guards being held up at gunpoint and the challenge of keeping squatters off of farmland, where they would set up tent encampments and claim the land was stolen during another period of upheaval. Meanwhile the relative calm in Estelí is only relative. There are protests and mortar fire and even some gunfire and deaths. At one point, protesters began using pavers that cigar makers had just paid to pave certain areas with to shield themselves from police, ripping them out of the ground and creating barricades. “No Nicaraguan feels like things are OK right now,” Juan said. ”It’s a trauma that will take some time to recover from, not only in terms of government institutions, but relationships among citizens. There’s a fragmentation of those who are pro and those who are anti, which will be a challenge as we look to rebuild society.” Efforts to move beyond the fighting have been on a rocky path. For starters, while there seems to be near consensus that things are not OK, there’s stark division among Ortega’s opponents about what to do about it. “There are some who are more moderate, others who are more radical,” Juan said. “The most radical demand is for the president and vice president to leave tomorrow and for there to be an immediate reconstruction effort. That’s not going to happen. The more likely course would be special elections in 2019, but before that there would be changes in the electorate, in the su-

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Students light candles during vigil after taking part in the “Walk for Peace and Dialogue” in Managua, where many demand Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice-President Rosario Murillo step down. Ortega has been under pressure to step down after announcing, then walking back a contentious pension reform plan that triggered days of protests and violence.

preme court, and in the electoral systems. The idea would be for all that to create a clean path for elections.” In late May 2018, a group of Nicaraguan bishops hosted a meeting intended to lay the groundwork for an ongoing dialogue between the Ortega government and a group of civil society leaders and activists called the Civic Alliance. The meeting went on for hours, with the Ortega government keeping the focus on (literal) roadblocks set up by its opposition as a sticking point for any progress. The government that had provoked an uprising with violence against protesters called the roadblocks themselves a human rights violation and the head of Nicaragua’s central bank projected that getting stuck in the status quo, roadblocks and all, would lead to a half-point bump in the unemployment rate — from 4.7 to 5.2 percent — and that inflation could increase by as much as 8 percent. A reasonable case can be made for putting roadblocks on the negotiating table. But when people are dying in the streets at your own hands, it’s hard to see making removal of roadblocks a precondition for any other progress as anything short of intransigent. “Initially, what we did was to open a dialogue,” said Wendy. “At first, I had a lot of hope that it might be productive. The government had stopped it’s repression, but it picked up soon after.” The Church backed out of its mediation role, saying publicly that it would not engage in or fa-

cilitate negotiations until it got guarantees from Ortega’s government that there would be an end to violence, repression, and the suppression of dissenting speech. Meanwhile, what the majority FSLN Assembly has done is create a “Truth Commission” to investigate claims of injury and death during protests throughout the country. Wendy cast the only vote in the Assembly against the creation of that commission. It was approved with 74 votes, all of them from the FSLN. “It’s tough because early on it just fell apart right away,” said Nicholas of what he sees as the best case scenario for Nicaragua at this point. “I really don’t know. I couldn’t give you a good answer. I just hope more people don’t have to die.” Whatever path things take, it seems unlikely that his most modern iteration of the conflict between Sandinistas and their opposition can be resolved by anything short of an Ortega exit. What Nicaragua looks like when that time comes seems to depend on how brazen Ortega is willing to be with his opposition and how much of his authoritarian nature that opposition can stomach. “We’ll keep working as we always have. We have a responsibility to the 3000 workers who depend on us,” said Freddy. “The ideal would be for the government of Nicaragua to stop responding to these things with violence and for people to return to normalcy and for foreigners to resume visiting the country,” said Juan. “Of course, the ultimate ideal is for this to never have happened, but that’s off the table.”

UNLEASH THE MADNESS

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WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including N-nitrosonornicotine, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer, and nicotine, which is known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov. WARNING: Cigar smoking can cause lung cancer and heart disease.

WITH Libertarian candidate for governor of New York

FDA approval. Where are the deaths of people from health food stores? They don’t exist. The FDA has killed and maimed far more people than every single health food store ever created throughout all time. And it’s not even close. Regulations only change when lobbyists decide to change them. Not because things get better or worse or safer or information changes. Which means big business will always have the advantage. If we had competing standards, the standards would change as technology changes, as information changes, as consumer demand changes. A good example of that is the Underwriters Laboratory. You want that stamp for that electronic equipment, you go to them and they give it. Or they don’t. But you can sell your product if you want to.

How do you communicate these ideas? What have you found to be effective in opening people’s eyes to that idea that government doesn’t have a role here? I ask people if they want to punish the people who have the vice or help them. What is your goal? And they always say help. If someone says punish, you don’t have to talk anymore. Move on. You’re going to vote Republican or Democrat. Have a nice day. Vote to punish people. But if you say, “I want to help people,” great! You help people by showing them you care, giving them safer alternatives. If you educate them and start looking at the actual result, you will sometimes realize behavior you thought was bad actually isn’t bad. Vaping, occasional cigar smoking, and marijuana use. If you do those three, the odds of you seriously affecting your health are zero to none. But you can also use all three of those to stop other habits. You can use cigars to wean yourself off cigarettes. You can use vape. You can use marijuana products.

Suppose you win. What does the plan look like there? Industries like the cigar industry create community. We need more community. If you go to any cigar shop, any vape shop, what do you find in there? Couches! It’s insane how good these things are. We should keep it going. Along with that community is the idea of the entrepreneur. You can become a cigar or vape entrepreneur literally out of your basement. It is possible for you to grow something, be something, do something to make your life better in these industries. Why in the world would we destroy them?

What role did your being an entrepreneur play in your path to the Libertarian Party? Entrepreneurs, by default, are libertarian. It’s simply how it works. They want freedom, they want to do things their way, they want less regulation, they want to innovate. In 2012, I heard Gary Johnson speak. He was an entrepreneur and it made sense. He was a Libertarian; I researched the party and I realized, “I’m a Libertarian.” I’m about smaller government. I’m about not using force. I’m about allowing for innovation. Not allowing the government to be a monopoly. Just because it’s government monopoly doesn’t make it good all of a sudden.

On FDA regulations that affect both vape and cigars, you have tended to focus on vape products and how those are affected. Talk about how you’ve seen the FDA, state and local regulations affect vape products and why you feel strongly about it. I’m not a vaper and have no connection to the industry. This isn’t personal for me. They came to me, I saw they were right, so now I support them. I do smoke cigars every once in a while. Probably once every couple of years when friends are having them. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t support the cigar industry. Of course I would! I support any industry that I think government is holding back. What I want more than anything is for the average American to be able to grow their own business, to grow their own world, to be able to become powerful and popular all on their own. I want people to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Government should be facilitating that, not stopping that in the name of safety. If the FDA wants to exist, I’m actually OK with it. What I’m not OK with doing is physically stopping people. If the FDA wants to say, “We have guidelines and standards on tobacco products,” I’m OK with that. And if you as someone who creates those products want the FDA stamp, then you should go to the FDA and get their stamp. But if you don’t care about their stamp, you should still be able to sell your product. Just be transparent and say, “We don’t have the FDA stamp.” And the response to me all the time is, “But then Larry, everyone will die!” Well what about health food stores? Health food stores throughout the country don’t have

Here’s my rule on licensing. If I would ask my friend to do it, I don’t need a license. Would I ask my friend to open a cigar store? Sure. Would I ask my friend to walk my dog? Sure. Would I ask my friend to take out my gallbladder? No! Get a license. The problem with over licensing, particularly in stores, is that they’re not being licensed for safety. They’re being licensed for control. I’m against that categorically. I don’t have control of federal, obviously. I’ll just be a governor. But there’s a law in Wyoming that helps farmers. It says if you’re going to sell only locally in Wyoming, that you will be immune to all Federal regulation. I want to create the same thing here in New York for all small business. If you agree that you will sell your product or service only in New York State, I want you to be immune from all Federal regulatory bodies. Locally, it will show that there is no zombie apocalypse. Right? It’s not the walking dead because the FDA didn’t approve every SKU. We will have proven that over the course of many years.

How’s the campaign doing and where can people get more information? Please go to larrysharpe.com. You can also go to Larry Sharpe for New York on Facebook, larry.sharpe on Instagram, and LarrySharpe on Twitter. Polling shows two things. When people know who I am, I’m polling at 24 percent. 24 is amazing for a third party candidate. But 77 percent of likely voters don’t know who I am. But there’s something more important. Head to head against the Democrat who is our current governor, his majesty King Cuomo, the sacrificial lamb Republican loses by 10 points. I lose by two points. That is a statistical tie with the current governor in a head to head battle. Even if I just beat the Republican, it will shake the Democrats up. Republicans will stop being the guys who worry about vice all the time and go back to worrying about small business and small government. So it will make for better Republicans and better Democrats, even if I come in second.

THIS INTERVIEW WAS CUT FOR LENGTH. LISTEN TO THE WHOLE CONVERSATION AT CIGARSNOBMAG.COM/PODCAST

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The cigar world is on Twitter and we aim to keep track of who’s leading who. The following is a scoreboard of the cigar world’s most relevant Tweeples. The list is sorted by number of followers and broken into groups: Top 20 Twitter Cigar Companies & Reps, Top 10 Twitter Retailers, Top 10 Online Cigar Tweeps, Top 3 Twitter Cigar Organizations, and Top 3 Cigar Radio Twitter accounts. If you have the numbers and belong in one of these groups, stand up and be counted! Set us straight via Twitter @cigarsnobmag.

TOP CIGAR COMPANIES (sorted by Twitter followers) Rocky Patel @RockyPatelCigar......................................... Drew Estate Cigars @DrewEstateCigar............................. Padron Cigar @PADRONCIGAR......................................... CAO International @CAOCigars......................................... Alec Bradley Cigars @AlecBradley.................................... Jonathan Drew @JonathanDrew1..................................... La Flor Dominicana @LFDCigars....................................... Camacho Cigars @camachocigars................................... Pete Johnson @TatuajeCigars........................................... Ashton Cigars @ashtoncigar............................................. Xikar Inc @XIKARinc......................................................... La Gloria Cubana @lagloriacubana.................................... Miami Cigar Co @miamicigar............................................. Nick Perdomo @PerdomoCigars....................................... Punch Cigars @punchcigars............................................. Ernesto Padilla @PadillaCigars......................................... Nat Sherman Intl. @Nat42nd............................................. AJ Fernandez Cigars @ajfcigars........................................ La Palina Cigars @La PalinaCigars.................................... Avo Cigars @AvoCigars.....................................................

31115 29977 25897 24699 21639 19143 18972 18608 16901 16753 14649 14196 13834 13364 13272 12251 12238 12143 11797 11424

TOP CIGAR ORGANIZATIONS CRA @cigarrights............................................................. 14561 IPCPR Staff @theIPCPR.................................................. 7710 Tobacconist University @tobacconistU............................. 4679

TOP CIGAR RADIO Cigar Dave Show @CigarDaveShow................................. 11691 Smooth Draws @SmoothDraws....................................... 4495 KMA Talk Radio @KMATalkRadio...................................... 2810

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TWEETS, MENTIONS, AND RANDOM SOCIAL MEDIA GOODNESS.

TOP CIGAR RETAILERS & REPS Mulberry St. Cigars @MulberryStCigar............................. Famous Smoke Shop @FamousSmokeShop...................... Cigar Hustler @cigarhustler.............................................. Cigar Row @CigarRow..................................................... Jeff Borysiewicz – Corona Cigar Co @CoronaCigarCo....... Cigar Inn @CIGARINN....................................................... Michael Herklots–Nat Sherman @MichaelHerklots............ Cheap Humidors @cheaphumidors................................... Palm Desert Tobacco @palmdsrttobacco......................... Lindsay Siddiqi @TheCigarChick.......................................

14344 12423 12199 8917 7269 7062 6896 5985 5630 5514

@randobush via Instagram OPUS X Never disappoints @arturofuentecigars #longashes#tightandfancyash #bestcigarsofig #cigars #cigarphotography #cigargeek #cigarsnob #cigarstyle #cigarsnobmag #owensborocigarevents #neptunechallenge

TOP ONLINE CIGAR TWEEPLES David Voth–Sex, Cigars, & Booze @SexCigarsBooze......... Cigar News @CigaRSS .................................................... Cigar Events @CigarEvents............................................... Stogie Boys @StogieBoys ............................................... Robusto Cigar Babe @RobustoBabe................................. Cigar Evaluations @CigarEvaluation................................. Cigar Inspector @CigarInspector ..................................... The Stogie Guys @stogieguys........................................... Tom Ufer @cigarsmonkingman.......................................... Barry Stein @barry2guys.................................................

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162045 15138 14693 9802 9793 9715 8663 8478 6826 6292

@cigar_aficionada via Instagram Absolutely am :) have a great weekend guys !!!! #cubacigarlife #botl #tobacco #cigarporn #sotl #cigarsnob #romeoyjulieta #cigars #cigarsinternational

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EVENTS 5TH ANNUAL CARS & CIGARS SMOKE DETROIT Detroit

Over 1,300 attended the 5th installment of the Cars & Cigars â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Smoke Detroit annual fundraiser at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheater in Sterling Heights, Mich. Attendees were able to get up close to a collection of classic, muscle, and high-end luxury cars and raised $1.2 million for the Celani Family Foundation and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. For info on how to get involved or to attend next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event, visit celanifamilyfoundation.com.

Arturo Sandoval and Dario Bergamo

Eric Newman, Tom Celani, Cynthia Fuente, Paul W. Smith, Carlito Fuente and Dario Bergamo

Jaime Locklear, Laura Esqueda and Kristen Laski

Nino and Joe Ruggirello, Sieglinde Espenshade, Tony Ruggirello and Paul Hanes

Jasime Kesemeyer, Greg Young and Maryam Basir

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Ken Johnson, Rudy Patros, Benjamin Smith, Burt Jordan and Victor Edozien

Ben and Iris Frank and Saylor Farse

Ron Chriss, Jacob Chriss, Derrick Chris and Mike Chriss

Tom Mulrenin, Jessie Mellon, Megan Eagan and Laura Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly

Mike Ryan and John Scholtes

Frank Torre, Steve White, Lisa Fair and Tim Courtney

Sean Silver, Tracy Arceci and Phil Serra

Jeannine Gant and Marvin Beatty

Lisa Jackman, Shawna Greene, Tammy Carnrike, Chelsea Brehm, Michelle Fowler and Rhonda Walker

Bill Hanges and Steve Cole

Tom Spillane, John Hubbard and Joseph Saker

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EVENTS PADRÓN FAMILY FOUNDATION SUMMER SMOKER Miami

The Padrón family brought together some of their closest friends (some of them are real Bastards) to raise money for the Padrón Family Foundation — namely for its efforts to build a school in Estelí, Nicaragua. There was great food, beer, cigars, a raffle, a silent auction, and a live auction run by guest auctioneer, former Miami Dolphins Pro Bowler Kim Bokamper. The Padróns sold some extremely rare cigars, some of which had never been seen before and had been aging in their private stash for decades, to raise money for their school.

Fr. Willie García-Tuñón and Ricardo Pau-Llosa

M.I.A. beer in the house!

Lt. Col. Brennan, Rudy Padrón and Carlos Rodríguez

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Andrés Chammas, Elizabeth Padrón and Antonio Argiz

Ivens Auchet, Jorge Padrón and Dayana Casiu

Elizabeth Padrón, Lisette Padrón, Melissa Lester, María Padrón and Kimberly Padrón

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EVENTS AJ FERNANDEZ / THE MACALLAN / RUTH’S CHRIS DINNER AT SABOR HAVANA CIGARS Doral, Fla.

Sabor Havana, one of Miami’s destination cigar shops, was converted to a white tablecloth steakhouse for a one-night, ticketed event. The shindig was organized to celebrate the release of Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez. Guests enjoyed a steak dinner catered by Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, drinks from Mega Wine & Spirits including The Macallan Scotch whiskey, and were among the first in the country to smoke AJ Fernandez’s highly anticipated Ramon Allones.

Helen Meneses and Eliana Osorio

Jorge Valdés, A.J. Fernández and Aquiles Legra

Javier Macedo, Manuel García, Ernie Paredes and Musa Nassar

Eric Valdés, Noel Rodríguez, A.J. Fernández and Gonzalo García

Elizabeth and Ileana Borlado

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Scott Judd, Gus and Fernando Martínez

Aquiles Legra and José Barrera

Yandy López and Selim Hanono

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EVENTS RON JAWORSKI’S CELEBRITY GOLF CHALLENGE PAIRINGS PARTY Atlantic City

Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and current NFL analyst Ron Jaworski hosted his annual celebrity golf challenge to raise funds for his charity, the Jaws Youth Playbook. VIPs at the golf tournament’s Pairings Party enjoyed complimentary cigars from Rocky Patel and whiskey from Johnny Walker by the pool at Harrah’s Resort. For more information on Ron Jaworski’s Celebrity Golf Challenge, visit jawscelebritygolf.com.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Rich Murawski

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EVENTS MIAMI CIGARS FEATURING NESTOR MIRANDA AT CAVA CIGARS Miami

Unlike most Cava Cigars events, which take place inside the spacious lounge, this time the majority of the action was on the side patio where Nestor Miranda was holding court on the domino table. In addition, the event featured a complimentary Cuban pig roast served with typical Cuban sides. Smoke great cigars, eat Cuban-style pork, and have your picture taken with Mr. Miranda, what more could you ask for on a Thursday night?

Nemesio González, Betty Dorta and Nestor Miranda

Luís and Hector Paz with Michael Torrent

Daniella Pérez and Jessica Delgado

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Willy Marante, Ángel Aguayo, Danny Delgado, Héctor Paz, Betty Dorta, Nestor Miranda and Giselle Rosales

Rocío Montoya-Singer, Robert Singer, Hector Kohn, Manny Rico and Kevin Chávez

Andy Marrero, Willy Marante and Marth Quinn

Ileana Borlado, Gervasio Baez, Ibis Lu, Johnny Cortina, Liz Borlado and Ray Granja

Jorge Valdés, Nestor Miranda and Ángel Aguayo

Alejandro López, Dulce Fuentes and Alessandro Quarta

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EVENTS MY FATHER CIGARS AT CAVA CIGARS Miami

They packed the house at Cava Cigars for a My Father Cigars event. Participants enjoyed catering by Sushi Sake as well as complimentary beer and wine in addition to specials on My Father Cigars including this magazine’s 2015 Cigar of the Year, the My Father El Centurion H-2K-CT.

Joaquín Saladrigas, Ángel Aguayo and William Saladrigas

Manny Moure and Orlando Delgado

Juliette Navarro and Johnny Zeigler

Bobby López, José Pepe Díaz and Ángel Aguayo

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Oscar Castro, Giancarlo Bertaina, Marcos Ocaniel, Frank Vázquez, Manuel Vázquez Sr, and Manny Vázquez with Betty Dorta

Tony Pichs and José Arias

Giselle Rosales and Betty Dorta

Alex Romaguera, Jorge Leal and Sebastian Banchs

Carlos Prieto and Joshua Salazar

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EVENTS OLIVA CIGARS AT CAVA CIGARS Miami

Representatives from Oliva Cigars were on hand to show off a variety of their highly rated cigars including the Oliva Serie V Melanio as well as the original Oliva Serie V. Guests jumped all over the box specials while they enjoyed complimentary pastries and other finger foods from a nearby Cuban bakery. Albert Sosa, ร ngel Aguayo and Mario Leรณn

Mario Caballero, Ashley and Betsy Zamora

Christopher Viera, Orlando Alzugaray Jr. and Dustin K. Fealy

Ileana Borlado and Gervasio Baez

Johnny Cortina and Grace Cabeza

CIGAR SNOB PODCAST

LISTEN NOW cigarsnobmag.com/podcast 118 | CIGAR SNOB | JULY / AUG 2018

JULY / AUG 2018 | CIGAR SNOB |

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EVENTS NYC BOATS AND SMOKES CIGAR CRUISE New York City

The Open Sky Group organized one of their popular cigar cruises setting off down the East River from 23rd Street. Three hundred guests enjoyed cigars from brands such as Macanudo, CAO, and La Gloria Cubana along with complimentary whiskey, appetizers, and even a back massage while taking in breathtaking views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Dimitrios Douloumbakas

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EVENTS 4TH ANNUAL HEA GOLF TOURNAMENT Miami Lakes

For the fourth consecutive year, Oliva Cigars sponsored Hialeah Educational Academy’s benefit golf tournament, all of whose proceeds went toward the charter school’s athletic department. There were raffle prizes and a new car for anyone who sank a hole in one during the tourney. In attendance were the Miami Heat Dancers, former Florida State Rep. Eddie Gonzalez, and Florida State Rep. Manny Díaz. Carlos Álvarez Sr., Albert Sosa and Ivelisse Ocampo

Heat Dancers

Emilio Condis, Wilmer Matos and Butch Carnicero

Eddie Liu and Chris Guasch

Jason Mohr, Oliver García, Elizabeth and Alan Baltodero

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Harry Morgan, Ivan Ocampo, Danny de Palo and David Hershberger

Mr. and Mrs. Keller

Miles Iglesias, Denise Wilson, Nick Gallego and José Nuñez

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