Saturday, October 23, 2010

Nestor Miranda Art Deco Robusto Grande Review


Nestor Miranda Art Deco Robusto Grande - 5.5 X 54. Wrapper - Nicaragua Corojo '96, Dual Binder - Dominican Criollo '98, Nicaragua Habano '00. Filler - Dominican & Nicaragua. Medium bodied.

Initial taste - A cedar wood and some spice.

First Third - Peppery spice, wood, cinnamon and some coffee notes.

Second Third - A creamy coffee sweetness develops, along with the pepper and notes of cinnamon and wood. Very nice balance.

Last Third - Creamy sweet coffee flavor continues with the tingly pepper spice, faint woodiness and a clove flavor emerges which gets stronger until the end of the cigar. Long finish of creamy sweetness and pepper spice.

Construction, burn and draw were excellent.

My favorite part of this cigar was the second third with the creamy sweetness and coffee flavor, along with the pepper. The last third I also enjoyed until the clove taste emerged. I know many like this particular flavor but it has never been one that I could enjoy. All in all a good cigar with a very nice MSRP on this vitola - $7.50. Give it a try.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Current cigar wish list as of October 2010.

Here is a list of cigars that I am looking forward to trying (in no particular order).

La Aurora 107 Lancero
El Primer Mundo Liga Miami
La Aurora Corojo
Alec Bradley Tempus Maduro
Casa Magna Lancero
T-52 Flying Pig
Nestor Miranda Art Deco

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

CAO La Traviata Maduro Divino Review

CAO La Traviata Maduro Divino - 5 X 50. Medium - Full. Wrapper - Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro, Binder - Cameroon, Filler - Nicaragua & Domincian.

Initial Taste - Dry wood/cedar.

First third - Leather, spice, cedar and cinnamon. There was also a slight sweetness emerging.

Second Third - Flavors remained - pretty much the same - leather, spice, cedar, cinnamon. Sweetness increases.

Last third - This is where this cigar really gets good for me - now I get a sweet, tangy leather, strong spice, nuts and cinnamon. Very enjoyable. Long tasty finish of sweet leather and spice.

Construction, burn and draw were very good.

CAO has another winner on their hands. This cigar is as good if not better than the regular La Traviata. I really liked this cigar. In particular the last third where I tasted the tangy, citrus leather, sweetness and the nuttiness. Balance was good as well. This is among my favorite flavor profiles. MSRP on this vitola is $6.00 which makes this a great value. If you liked the natural La Traviata, I highly recommend trying the maduro version.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is now the world’s second larg-est cigar company

Announcement/Press release
Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is now the world’s second larg-est cigar company
After having received the necessary approvals from the relevant competition author-ities, Skandinavisk Holding A/S and Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S on 1 October 2010 closed the transaction with Swedish Match AB which creates the world’s second largest cigar company and an even stronger world leader in pipe tobacco.
On 26 April 2010 it was announced that the parties had signed an agreement to form a new company by combining all the tobacco business of Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S (STG) with the cigars and pipe tobacco business of Swedish Match AB (SM) (with the ex-ception of its US mass market cigars). After having obtained the required approvals from a number of national competition authorities, the transaction has now been completed with effect from 1 October 2010.
The new company carries the name Scandinavian Tobacco Group and has an annual turn-over of approximately MEUR 690 and an EBITDA of approximately MEUR 140 (based on 2009 results). Annually more than 2.5 billion cigars and 1,650 tons of pipe tobacco will leave the Group’s factories in Europe, Asia and Central America. The joint company has approximately 9,700 employees. The new company, which has sales companies in 15 countries, is market leader in a num-ber of countries in Europe within cigars and pipe tobacco and holds more than 30% of the US premium cigar market. The company’s leading cigar brands include Café Crème, La Paz, Henri Wintermans, Colts, Mercator, Macanudo, CAO, Partagas (US), Cohiba (US) and Punch (US). Leading pipe tobacco brands are Erinmore, Borkum Riff, Clan, Half&Half, and W.Ø. Larsen.
Skandinavisk Holding A/S (SH) holds 51% of the shares in the new Scandinavian Tobacco Group, with the remaining 49% of the shares being held by Swedish Match AB (SM). Jørgen Tandrup, Chairman of SH and the former Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), is Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Conny Karlsson, Chairman of SM, holds the role as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Anders Colding Friis, CEO of the former STG, is CEO of the new Scandinavian Tobacco Group which is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. “After months of preparations we are very pleased now to be able to start the integration of the two businesses. The new Scandinavian Tobacco Group is a truly global company and we have an excellent basis in the combined brand portfolio to grow even further and
Skandinavisk Holding A/S  Sydmarken 42  DK-2860 Søborg  Telefon 3955 6200  CVR. nr. 21431516
increase profitability,” says Anders Colding Friis. In Australia and New Zealand the competition authorities have given their approval to the transaction on the condition that the new company divests part of its business in those countries. The divestment will take place post closing and will not materially affect the operation or financial performance of the new joint business.
For further information, please contact: Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S CEO Anders Colding Friis (+45) 39 55 62 00
Further information about the new Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is also available at www.st-group.com . Background information Skandinavisk Holding (SH) has contributed Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S (STG) – formerly named Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni – with all its tobacco business (cigars, pipe tobacco and fine cut tobacco) in more than 100 countries around the world, including brands and approximately 3,400 employees. In 2009 the turnover of the group was MDKK 2,400. Swedish Match (SM) has contributed all its cigar business (with the exception of its US mass mar-ket cigars and a minority stake in the German company Arnold André), as well as its pipe tobacco and accessories business. In selected markets the combined entity will also distribute lighters and matches for Swedish Match.
SH will compensate SM MEUR 30 to account for the majority shareholding and the relative differ-ences in enterprise values on a cash and debt free basis.
Besides its stake in Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S, Skandinavisk Holding (SH) owns a majority share of the daily goods wholesaler Dagrofa a.s. and all of the shares of furniture business Fritz Hansen A/S. Together with Augustinus Fonden, SH also holds a majority interest in the Copenha-gen amusement park Tivoli. The foundations Augustinus Fonden (65%) and Det Obelske Familie-fond (35%) are the ultimate shareholders of SH.
Swedish Match (SM) is a listed company on the NASDAQ OMX in Stockholm. SM will continue its fo-cus on smoke-free products, US mass-market cigars and chewing tobacco, lighters and matches. SM’s global operations generated sales of MSEK 14,204 in 2009.