The  #29 2023 Cigar of the Year is the Joya de Nicaragua Dos Cientos. In 2021, the 200th anniversary of Central American independence from the Spanish Empire was celebrated. This would set the stage for creating several Central American nations, including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. That same year, Joya de Nicaragua marked the occasion with Dos Cientos. This cigar was released in 2021, but I smoked it earlier this year. With some age, the cigar had a remarkable performance, landing it on the Countdown.

Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-r2q

The 2023 #30 Cigar of the Year is the Byron Seleccion 1850 No. 3 by Selected Tobacco. The Seleccion 1850 became the fourth blend under Selected Tobacco’s Byron line. The Byron brand traces its origins to Cuba in 1850, where the Byron Selección 1850 derives its name. It was in 1850 when the first Byron was created by Selected Tobacco Nelson Alfonso’s great-great-great-grandfather. The original cigar was made in a small factory in Santiago de las Vegas in the Havana province of Cuba. The name Byron honors George Gordon Byron, better known as “Lord Byron,” a renowned English poet. After the brand went dormant, Nelson Alfonso would re-acquire the brand.

The 2023 #30 Cigar of the Year is the Byron Seleccion 1850 No. 3 by Selected Tobacco. The Seleccion 1850 became the fourth blend under Selected Tobacco’s Byron line. The Byron brand traces its origins to Cuba in 1850, where the Byron Selección 1850 derives its name. It was in 1850 when the first Byron was created by Selected Tobacco Nelson Alfonso’s great-great-great-grandfather. The original cigar was made in a small factory in Santiago de las Vegas in the Havana province of Cuba. The name Byron honors George Gordon Byron, better known as “Lord Byron,” a renowned English poet. After the brand went dormant, Nelson Alfonso would re-acquire the brand.

For Episode 290, we are proud to welcome Les Mann, the Vice President of Sales for S.T. Dupont as our special guest.

Les has a long career in the world of premium cigar accessories with companies such as Colibri and Quality Importers. For the past few years, Les has been running sales at S.T. Dupont. Tonight we will talk about Les’ career and the happenings going on at S.T. Dupont.

Les is also a trading card collector, and he’ll talk about this during our Alec Bradley Live True segment.

Plus, we will have our FSG Beef Question of the Night, Tabacalera USA Ties That Bind, Espinosa Today in Sports History, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Deliberation segments.

For Episode 290, we are proud to welcome Les Mann, the Vice President of Sales for S.T. Dupont as our special guest.

Les has a long career in the world of premium cigar accessories with companies such as Colibri and Quality Importers. For the past few years, Les has been running sales at S.T. Dupont. Tonight we will talk about Les’ career and the happenings going on at S.T. Dupont.

Les is also a trading card collector, and he’ll talk about this during our Alec Bradley Live True segment.

Plus, we will have our FSG Beef Question of the Night, Tabacalera USA Ties That Bind, Espinosa Today in Sports History, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Deliberation segments.

The newest iteration of the Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special by Espinosa Cigars and Guy Fieri made it’s debut at the 2023 PCA trade show in Las Vegas.  This is a follow up on the 2022 release which was a huge hit with the cigar community.  This new version features and Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper versus the Ecuadorian Habano from last year and a new blend of filler tobaccos all from Nicaragua with a Nicaraguan binder.

From Espinosa Cigars:

The Chef Special is a yearly release made available to retailers at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) trade show. This 10-count box was first made in 2022. Future Chef Special’s will be made with the blend and size change from year to year.

For this review, we are going to check it out and let you know how it stacked up to last year’s version.

From the release article on our site:

The Chef Special features a different blend than its 2022 predecessor. This includes an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over all-Nicaraguan binders and fillers. Like last year, the Chef Special comes in a 6 1/2 x 52 Box Pressed Figurado. The cigars will be in ten-count boxes with pricing of $15.00 MSRP per cigar and $150.00 MSRP per box. The cigars are made at the San Lotano Factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

“This is the first LE we did for Knuckle Sandwich Cigars, the size and the blend really hit. So, we are back this year with a new blend in that same great size, it’s an exceptional smoke,” commented Erik Espinosa in a press release.

• Vitola:  Figurado

The newest iteration of the Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special by Espinosa Cigars and Guy Fieri made it’s debut at the 2023 PCA trade show in Las Vegas.  This is a follow up on the 2022 release which was a huge hit with the cigar community.  This new version features and Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper versus the Ecuadorian Habano from last year and a new blend of filler tobaccos all from Nicaragua with a Nicaraguan binder.

From Espinosa Cigars:

The Chef Special is a yearly release made available to retailers at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) trade show. This 10-count box was first made in 2022. Future Chef Special’s will be made with the blend and size change from year to year.

For this review, we are going to check it out and let you know how it stacked up to last year’s version.

From the release article on our site:

The Chef Special features a different blend than its 2022 predecessor. This includes an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over all-Nicaraguan binders and fillers. Like last year, the Chef Special comes in a 6 1/2 x 52 Box Pressed Figurado. The cigars will be in ten-count boxes with pricing of $15.00 MSRP per cigar and $150.00 MSRP per box. The cigars are made at the San Lotano Factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

“This is the first LE we did for Knuckle Sandwich Cigars, the size and the blend really hit. So, we are back this year with a new blend in that same great size, it’s an exceptional smoke,” commented Erik Espinosa in a press release.

• Vitola:  Figurado

Tonight Dave and Coop take a look at records that have been given second chances. These are records that were trashed, disregarded by fans or totally forgotten about in lieu of later work. Somehow these records caught on later

For this show, Dave smokes the RoMa Craft Quinquagenerio and Coop smokes the Saga Short Tales Tomo VI.

As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists:

• Episode 115 Playlist

• Dolly Parton FULL Thanksgiving Halftime Show

Tonight Dave and Coop take a look at records that have been given second chances. These are records that were trashed, disregarded by fans or totally forgotten about in lieu of later work. Somehow these records caught on later

For this show, Dave smokes the RoMa Craft Quinquagenerio and Coop smokes the Saga Short Tales Tomo VI.

As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists:

• Episode 115 Playlist

• Dolly Parton FULL Thanksgiving Halftime Show

The Smoking Syndicate Roundtable tackles another set of cigars from the Aura by E.P. Carrillo Shengxiao Collection tonight. We are, once again, joined by a special guest Roundtable panelist, Mr. Fred Rewey!

The Aura by E.P. Carrillo Shengxiao is an ultra-premium collection introduced by E.P. Carrillo late in 2023. It consists of 12 blends by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo – each representing a year in the Chinese Zodiac. Tonight, each panelist will take a different blend based on the year he was born. Back in May, we went through an initial set from this collection.

Tune in tonight for this unique Roundtable and find out what the panelists think of this release.