Box Press

If you love cigars, please don't be intimidated by your local cigar lounge. Many cigar shops also feature conversation spots where you can light up your purchase and chat with other patrons. Some questions to break the ice with cigar smokers: What are you smoking? Would you buy that cigar again? What cigar would you recommend I try next?

Guest: Altadis Cigars’ National Education Manager and Smoke Tester, Travis Pappenheim

Boveda Box Hosts: Rob Gagner and Nate Beck

What Are You Tasting in a Cigar? https://vimeo.com/776275750

How Cigar Flavor Stimulates Memory https://vimeo.com/778566812

How to Taste Cigars—Using What's in Your House! https://vimeo.com/778566962

Should You Smell Your Cigar? https://vimeo.com/778567231/0c2533fd4b

Learning How to Taste Cigars at a Higher Level https://vimeo.com/740951214

Cigar talk highlights:

00:00 Cold open

00:06 How to feel comfortable at a cigar lounge

00:39 Cigar smokers love talking to other cigar smokers

01:05 Talk to someone new at the cigar lounge

01:43 What not to say at a cigar lounge

02:03 Questions to ask cigar buddies

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

The nose knows! Learn why people smell cigar smoke. Hear how smoking experts judge the aroma of a cigar. Try this new cigar smoking technique to appreciate your next smoke even more.

Guest: Altadis Cigars’ National Education Manager and Smoke Tester, Travis Pappenheim

Boveda Box Hosts: Rob Gagner and Nate Beck

More with cigar smokers, Travis, Rob and Nate here:

What Are You Tasting in a Cigar?

https://vimeo.com/776275750

How Cigar Flavor Stimulates Memory https://vimeo.com/778566812

How to Taste Cigars—Using What's in Your House! https://vimeo.com/778566962

Learning How to Taste Cigars at a Higher Level https://vimeo.com/740951214

Cigar talk highlights:

00:00 Cold open

00:03 Cigar lounge conversations you’ll probably never hear

00:25 Your cigar palate isn’t the same as the guy next to you

01:38 Learn a technique for smelling cigar smoke

02:58 When and when not to waft cigar smoke

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

A real-life cigar experiment you SHOULD try at home! See for yourself why tasting cigars involves both your sense of smell and your taste buds. Create your own palate training kit using everyday items from your pantry, spice rack, mudroom, humidor, etc. Learn how to use those sense stimulators to identify and define a cigar’s flavor. 

Hear how professional smoke testers develop flavor notes for premium cigars. You can train yourself to taste cigars like an expert!  

Guest: Altadis Cigars’ National Education Manager and Smoke Tester, Travis Pappenheim 

Boveda Box Hosts: Rob Gagner and Nate Beck 

More with cigar smokers, Travis, Rob and Nate here:

What Are You Tasting in a Cigar? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErxW... 

How Cigar Flavor Stimulates Memory https://youtu.be/ZgY7PtTlMu4

Learning How to Taste Cigars at a Higher Level https://youtu.be/qTmd4tzi_x4

Cigar talk highlights:

00:00 Cold open

00:26 Develop your palate for a premium cigar—get a hold of the cigar manufacturer’s tasting notes to know what you’re smoking 

02:20 How to make a cigar flavor testing kit

03:30 How to humidify cedar spills for a palate testing kit—use a Boveda 69% RH in a Tupperware®

container 

03:34 What techniques professional smoke testers use to train their cigar palates?

04:28 Rob uses coffee to learn how to identify a cigar’s flavor profile

04:40 The 15-second cigar tasting technique:

- 3 count smell of aroma

- 3 count draw in

- 3 count hold in your mouth

- 3 count release of smoke

- 3 count smell aroma again

08:25 Be patient—you might not develop a cigar palate quickly

08:50 Nate uses Spanish cedar to learn how to identify a cigar’s flavor profile

13:18 What’s a really good cigar for a first-time smoker or a celebration, like a wedding or bachelor party?

Why use Boveda a cigar humidor? 

Keeping cigars fresh by storing with them Boveda preserves the flavors you taste in tobacco. 

The cigar packs are so easy to use. Just slip Boveda into a humidor and the packs do all the work. There's nothing to refill or manage. Boveda works automatically to protect cigars. 

Shop Boveda here:

https://store.bovedainc.com/collections/boveda-for-tobacco

Learn more about refining your taste buds for cigars: 

Pick Your Cigar Palate Apart!

https://youtu.be/TOF-KS-O1QY 

What Makes a Cigar Taste Good?

https://youtu.be/1RYXtKHUwgM?t=88 

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/ 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Want to get better at identifying the flavors of a cigar? (And we're not talking flavor infused cigars.) You can learn how to build associations between your senses and what you’re tasting in premium tobacco. Join these cigar aficionados for a smoke as they reveal cigar flavors, how that flavor changes throughout a premium handmade cigar and how the tobacco leaves origins dictate what you taste.

Guest: Altadis Cigars’ National Education Manager, Travis Pappenheim

Boveda Box Hosts: Rob Gagner and Nate Beck

More with cigar smokers, Travis, Rob and Nate here:

What Are You Tasting in a Cigar? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErxW...

00:00 Cold open

00:34 What am I tasting in a cigar? Black coffee? Dark chocolate? Leather? Rose?

01:19 Wine tasting versus cigar tasting

01:44 Does smell trigger memories?

03:07 The connection between flavors and aromas in cigars

04:25 How can cigars be spicy?

06:46 What flavors are you picking up in a cigar? (The unique cigar rolled with tobacco from 5 different countries—Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Indonesia and Colombia.)

Why use Boveda in a cigar humidor?

Keeping cigars fresh by storing with them Boveda preserves the flavors you taste in tobacco.

The cigar packs are so easy to use. Just slip Boveda into a humidor and the packs do all the work. There's nothing to refill or manage. Boveda works automatically to protect cigars.

Shop Boveda for cigars here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collectio...

Learn more about refining your taste buds for cigars:

Pick Your Cigar Palate Apart!

https://youtu.be/TOF-KS-O1QY

Better Understand Your Cigar Tasting Palate

https://youtu.be/W-L976OtGlE

What Makes a Cigar Taste Good?

https://youtu.be/1RYXtKHUwgM?t=88

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Cigar smokers wanna know what the best cigar flavors are. Even if you smoke the #1 cigar, you might never experience its full flavor if you smoke a cigar too fast, judge a cigar when you first light it or try to set the record for the biggest ash.

You might be surprised to hear the way you smoke cigars may impact their flavors. Correct these 3 mistakes cigar smokers make and your next cigar might taste a whole lot better.

Pro Cigar Tip: a well-humidified cigar always tastes better. Store cigars with Boveda in a humidor to get the best flavor out of every cigar.

Guest: Altadis Cigars’ National Education Manager, Travis Pappenheim

Boveda Box Hosts: Rob Gagner and Nate Beck

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

00:00 Cold open

02:19 Are you puffing on a cigar too fast?

02:40 Does tobacco really have flavors?

03:51 How long should you hold cigar smoke in your mouth?

03:57 What it means if the ember of a cigar is this color

04:07 Why a big cigar ash is bad (Our apologies to Sir Mixalot!)

04:25 How to correctly draw on a cigar

06:09 Are you smoking a bad cigar? (How long until a cigar's flavor kicks in.)

07:24 Where’s the most flavor in a cigar—what a lit cigar is trying to tell you.

Boveda are 2-way humidity packs you put in a humidor to preserve cigars. If you store cigars in a wood humidor, have you seasoned your humidor lately? The easy way to season a wood humidor is using the Boveda Humidor Starter Kits.

Check out the easy-to-use kits here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collections/boveda-for-tobacco/starter-kit

How many Boveda do I need for a humidor? Find out here: https://boveda-humidor-calculator.bovedainc.com/

Imagine “hearing” colors, “feeling” sounds and “tasting” shapes. That’s what synesthetes like Luciano Meirelles, president and CEO of Luciano Cigars, experience. Learn how Luciano's synesthesia has helped him identify nuances of different tobaccos, categorize them and blend them to create some of cigar smokers' favorite premium cigars, including Luciano The Dreamer, Pichardo Clásico and The Sergeant.

Host of Box Press, Rob Gagner and Luciano smoke the Fiat Lux Intuition in this interview at Boveda headquarters west of Minneapolis.

According to Scientific America, synesthesia is an anomalous blending of the senses in which the stimulation of one modality simultaneously produces sensation in a different modality. In other words, synesthetes experience something through a sense that manifests itself as something entirely different e.g. a taste = some shape. For Luciano, he has an eidetic memory (Sheldon Cooper, anyone?) of tobacco flavors that help him pinpoint which tobacco will blend well together.

Highlights from this cigar podcast:

00:00 Cold open

01:02 What is the origin story of the Fiat Lux cigar?

05:56 Living to work or working to live?

07:32 Synesthesia—the disease that helps him memorize flavors

12:02 Why the other 99% of synesthesia is a pain in the ass

14:22 Becoming stronger from what you think is your weakest part

15:52 Whatever is in your hands, just do your best

17:42 Valuing knowledge more than being right

29:12 A master blender isn't a title you give yourself

33:58 Cigar Culture Blend No.3 by Adrian Acosta

35:06 Talking Ometepe tobacco and growing tobacco in Esteli, Contigo and Pueblo Nuevo

41:51 What do cigar smokers think of Maduro?

44:51 What salt has to do with your cigar palate

51:05 Maybe cigar smokers need to do a salt lick like you do before drinking tequila

59:46 Where can you get Boveda for a humidor?

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Keeping cigars fresh by storing with them Boveda preserves the flavors you taste in tobacco. The cigar packs are so easy to use. Just slip Boveda into a humidor and the packs do all the work. There's nothing to refill or manage. Boveda works automatically to protect cigars. Shop Boveda for cigars here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collectio...

Learn more about refining your cigar palate:

Pick Your Cigar Palate Apart!

https://youtu.be/TOF-KS-O1QY

Better Understand Your Cigar Tasting Palate

https://youtu.be/W-L976OtGlE

What Makes a Cigar Taste Good?

https://youtu.be/1RYXtKHUwgM?t=88

More about synesthesia:

Synesthesia and What It Has Taught Me | Melissa McCracken | TEDxUNC

https://youtu.be/kvPd3wH21z8

What Is It Like To Have Synesthesia?

https://youtu.be/ZVC3E16FCrk

Don't ever wash a cast iron skillet! Learn how to cook a New York strip the right way, Omar’s way. Founder of Fratello Cigars, Omar de Frias defines medium rare, reveals what food NOT to pair with cigars and recommends what cigar to smoke after a steak dinner. Recorded at Boveda HQ in Minnesota with Box Press host, Rob Gagner.

Minneapolis is home to the Juicy Lucy, a burger stuffed with molten melted cheese. Omar is intrigued to feature a Juicy Lucy on an upcoming episode of his YouTube cigar podcast, Imperfect Pairings.

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Highlights include:

00:00 Cold open

05:34 Trading the NBA for an MBA

06:54 Managing a $5 billion budget for 10% of the world's science

09:27 Working with two of the oldest cigar factories

10:09 What are you? The United Nations of cigars?

10:32 You don't choose your parents or your nickname

12:40 Top 3 Fratello Cigars to try

14:36 What cigar to offer after a steak dinner?

15:43 What's a good celebratory cigar from Fratello?

17:39 How are cigars and golf clubs similar?

18:55 Omar de Frias's guilty pleasure

23:09 How the COVID pandemic changed the cigar industry

25:04 Ice fishing with Omar de Frias?

30:39 Best steakhouse in Washington D.C.

31:18 Know you stove, know your cast iron skillet, know your cuts of meat

36:07 How to cook a steak the right way, according to Omar de Frias

40:36 Cigar hotbeds of the U.S.

43:12 Why you don't see Pedrón, Fuente or Oliva launching cigars left and right

48:30 Getting a job in the cigar industry

58:30 What cigar pairs with a Juicy Lucy?

You heard about seasoning a cast iron skillet, now find out why you must season a wood humidor before you put cigars inside. Check out the Boveda Humidor Starter Kits. Learn how to set up a humidor for cigars so they age well, stay fresh and taste great.

Innovators in 2-way humidity control for cigars, Boveda makes humidity packs for humidors, travel cigar humidor bags and more. Shop Boveda here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collections/boveda-for-tobacco

So much more to know about your cigar hobby:

Unboxing the Fratello Navetta Inverso Cigar with Omar de Frias

https://youtu.be/009BsNe05jA?t=88

Latest episode of Omar de Frias’s Imperfect Pairings Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

How to Season a Humidor in 1 Easy Step

https://youtu.be/OhYqighERdU?t=85

I Need a Good Cigar for Under $20

https://youtu.be/pSWHA9C-FrA

Best Halloween Cigars

https://youtu.be/moLwbAZGMt8?t=24

Basketball and cigars! It’s Miami vs. Minneapolis. 6' 6" vs. 5' 10". Home-court vs. on-the-road. Watch who comes out on top in the legendary basketball shooting game, P-I-G as Boveda’s Rob Gagner takes on Caldwell Cigar Company Founder, Robert Caldwell. Recorded in Miami at the cigar maker’s home.

Who makes the roundball shots that the other can’t match? Who’s penalized by getting a letter? Who reveals TMI?

Cigar fans, find out which boy is a P.I.G. Pig. (And why you should never fly with Robert Caldwell.)

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Secrets behind making cigars revealed! Join us on the lanai at Robert Caldwell’s private home for a real talk with the founder of Caldwell Cigar Company. Hear from the character behind Blind Man’s Bluff, Long Live the King and Anastasia cigars. Recorded in Miami with Boveda’s cigar podcast host Rob Gagner.

Launched in 2014, the brand creates sticks using well-aged rare tobaccos. In the industry, Robert is known for collaborating with other cigar makers to blend tobacco for small-batch lines, including Lost & Found.

The cigar talk with Robert Caldwell continues! Tune into Box Press to catch Rob and Robert playing PIG on the cigar maker’s home basketball half-court.

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

Hear where Robert Caldwell gets his shirts and other pressing cigar intel:

00:00 Cold open

00:50 Top 3 vacation destinations

02:58 Top places to live if you can work from home

06:41 You know you’re from Miami if you know what "Shiny Shit" Syndrome is

09:27 Book recommendation: Sixty Miles of Border: An American Lawman Battles Drugs on the Mexican Border by Terry Kirkpatrick

12:00 Are traditional cigar brands passé? Do today's cigar smokers only crave boutique or brand new cigars?

16:11 Are you a pointless consumer?

24:04 Why do you smoke cigars?

26:35 How do you get cigar smell out of a car?

28:56 What's on Robert Caldwell's playlist?

30:34 What are Lost & Found cigars?

33:33 Try eating black licorice while you smoke a cigar

36:25 What’s the one thing most cigar smokers don’t know about cigar making?

39:39 How soon can you smoke a freshly rolled cigar?

40:42 What's the worst thing about the cigar industry?

41:55 What's the best thing about cigars?

Boveda is your wingman for all things cigar. Learn how to maintain a humidor, how to keep cigars fresh, how to season a humidor, how to store cigars and more. To get great taste out of cigars, keep Boveda cigar packs in your humidor. Innovators in 2-way humidity control for cigars, Boveda makes Humidor Starter Kits, travel cigar humidor bags and one-step hygrometer calibration kits, too.

Shop Boveda here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collectio...

More on saving cigars and powering a humidor:

How to Season a Humidor in 1 Easy Step

https://youtu.be/OhYqighERdU?t=85

Can you use humidity beads along with Boveda in your humidor?

https://youtu.be/BNfehREpEYM

Candy Crush Cigars! Pairing Cigars With Halloween Treats

https://youtu.be/4uzsI_n5t6k?t=84

How to Reduce Harshness and Bitterness in your Cigars

https://youtu.be/o-3fJRkeMnM

Who are they listening to? Ash, a French-Egyptian multi-instrumentalist, live artist and producer famous for evocative live sessions in far flung locations.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Ashmusicoff...

Best explanation of a tobacco plant on the web! This cigar talk proves you don't have to spend a lot on a cigar to get a great smoke. Fuma cigars are made by repurposing the tobacco that's leftover after producing premium cigars. Hear how Ernesto Padilla (pronounced Pah-dee-yah) selects the best of what's left to craft Padilla fumas. Ernesto and Boveda's Rob Gagner discuss how blending tobacco for cigars is like grinding meat for hamburger. Are cigars on In-N-Out Burger's secret menu?

Like any good sit-down in a smoking lounge, the conversation roams—from The Cold War and the Cuban Revolution to botany and the tobacco strength. Recorded in cigar mecca, Miami, Florida.

Website: https://www.bovedainc.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bovedausa/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bovedainc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bovedainc/

To get great taste out of expensive and budget cigars, keep Boveda cigar packs in your humidor. Innovators in 2-way humidity control for cigars, Boveda makes Humidor Starter Kits, travel cigar humidor bags, one-step hygrometer calibration kits, humidor seasoning and more.

Shop Boveda here: https://store.bovedainc.com