We are pleased to welcome the one and only Nick Perdomo, President and CEO of Perdomo Cigars back to Prime Time.

Perdomo Cigars is finishing up a big year, capped off with the shipping of the long-awaited Perdomo 30th Anniversary. We’ll get the update on this and all things Perdomo on this very special, Special Edition to finish up 2023!

Plus, we have our Vintage Rock-A-Feller Cigar Group U.S. History segment, Tabacalera USA Great Things are Happening Here, and Espinosa This Day in Sports History segments.

• Oklahoma Teen Overcomes Shyness to Collect and Give Away 54,000 Toys

The #19 2023 Cigar of the Year is Weller by Cohiba 2022. The cigar comes from General Cigar Company. Over the past few years, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), General's parent company, has collaborated with the Buffalo Trace Distillery. The brands from Buffalo Trace that STG has worked on include Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Fireball Cinnamon, and Weller. The first collaboration between STG and Weller was the release of the Weller by Cohiba in 2021. The Weller by Cohiba aimed to provide a cigar that could complement Weller Bourbon. For those who don’t follow the spirits world, Weller refers to a line of premium bourbons sold under the W.L. Weller brand. W.L. Weller stands for William Larue Weller (1825–1899). The following year, there was another release featuring an all-new blend, appropriately called the Weller by Cohiba 2022. Since then, there has also been a 2023 release. All three differ, but we'll focus on the Weller by Cohiba 2022 release.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r8L

The #19 2023 Cigar of the Year is Weller by Cohiba 2022. The cigar comes from General Cigar Company. Over the past few years, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), General's parent company, has collaborated with the Buffalo Trace Distillery. The brands from Buffalo Trace that STG has worked on include Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Fireball Cinnamon, and Weller. The first collaboration between STG and Weller was the release of the Weller by Cohiba in 2021. The Weller by Cohiba aimed to provide a cigar that could complement Weller Bourbon. For those who don’t follow the spirits world, Weller refers to a line of premium bourbons sold under the W.L. Weller brand. W.L. Weller stands for William Larue Weller (1825–1899). The following year, there was another release featuring an all-new blend, appropriately called the Weller by Cohiba 2022. Since then, there has also been a 2023 release. All three differ, but we'll focus on the Weller by Cohiba 2022 release.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r8L

The Grammy Awards are scheduled for Sunday February 4, 2024 and the nominations are out. On Episode 116, we take a look at the key categories and who the nominees are, then decide who we want to win and who we thin think the Grammys will pick.

For this show, Dave smokes the Paul Stulac Red Screaming Sun and Coop smokes the E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel

As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists:

• Episode 116 Playlist

• Complete 2024 Grammy Nominations

The Grammy Awards are scheduled for Sunday February 4, 2024 and the nominations are out. On Episode 116, we take a look at the key categories and who the nominees are, then decide who we want to win and who we thin think the Grammys will pick.

For this show, Dave smokes the Paul Stulac Red Screaming Sun and Coop smokes the E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel

As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists:

• Episode 116 Playlist

• Complete 2024 Grammy Nominations

The #20 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary by Quesada Cigars. On April 10th 2022, Quesada Cigars Founder and President Manuel “Manolo” Quesada turned 75 years old. Commemorating the occasion, Quesada Cigars released a special limited edition cigar dubbed the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary. More recently, Manolo’s daughter Raquel has been playing an increasing role in the operations of Quesada Cigars, but according to Quesada Cigars the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary was a project specifically blended by Manolo himself.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r8o

The #20 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary by Quesada Cigars. On April 10th 2022, Quesada Cigars Founder and President Manuel “Manolo” Quesada turned 75 years old. Commemorating the occasion, Quesada Cigars released a special limited edition cigar dubbed the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary. More recently, Manolo’s daughter Raquel has been playing an increasing role in the operations of Quesada Cigars, but according to Quesada Cigars the Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary was a project specifically blended by Manolo himself.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r8o

The #21 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Blackened M81 Toro by Drew Estate. Blackened M81 is a three-way collaboration project between Metallica’s James Hetfield, Distiller Rob Dietrich of Sweet Amber Distilling, and Drew Estate's own Jonathan Drew. Blackened is the name of a whiskey collaboration of Metallica and Dietrich. Dietrich and Drew have been friends for a while. It was Dietrich who introduced Metallica lead singer James Hetfield to Drew. Soon enough, the idea of creating a cigar brand was floated. From there, the wheels were put in motion to create a cigar that shared the vision of the Blackened Brand. After iterating through many test blends during the COVID-19 pandemic, they settled on the flavor profile, the Blackened M81. As for the name M81, it stands for Metallica 1981 – the year Metallica was formed.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r7F

The #21 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Blackened M81 Toro by Drew Estate. Blackened M81 is a three-way collaboration project between Metallica’s James Hetfield, Distiller Rob Dietrich of Sweet Amber Distilling, and Drew Estate's own Jonathan Drew. Blackened is the name of a whiskey collaboration of Metallica and Dietrich. Dietrich and Drew have been friends for a while. It was Dietrich who introduced Metallica lead singer James Hetfield to Drew. Soon enough, the idea of creating a cigar brand was floated. From there, the wheels were put in motion to create a cigar that shared the vision of the Blackened Brand. After iterating through many test blends during the COVID-19 pandemic, they settled on the flavor profile, the Blackened M81. As for the name M81, it stands for Metallica 1981 – the year Metallica was formed.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r7F

The #22 2023 Cigar of the Year is the E.P. Carrillo Allegiance Sidekick. The Allegiance is the fourth installment of the Perez-Carrillo line. The Allegiance is a cigar that Ernesto Perez-Carrillo blended, but it is being produced from Oliva’s TABOLISA factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. It was the second project by E.P. Carrillo to be produced outside its Tabacalera La Alianza factory. Other projects we have seen are the E.P. Carrillo INCH Nicaragua out of Plasencia and the Short Run 2023 out of Oscar Valladares’ factory. The name Allegiance pays homage to the many partnerships and alliances the Perez-Carrillo family has forged over the years. In the case of the Allegiance, the partnership is strong, as Oliva had one of its Cuba Aliados projects produced at Tabacelrera La Alianza.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r7t

Note: On this audio/video recording, we incorrectly said E.P. Carrillo had eight appearances on the Countdown. In reality it was nine.