Episode 156: Cuban Travel with Zedman and Unbanded

Cuban Travel Episode w/Zedman and Unbanded 029

Tonight, we have an Unbanded from Dan C. and special guest Zedman, who is here to talk about his recent Cuban travel.  There’s not a great deal to say about an Unbanded without spoiling our chance to humiliate ourselves…but for preliminaries, it’s 5-5/8″ x 48 and sports an attractive medium brown, supple wrapper.  Tune in to see how far off we can be….

Cigar News

JC Newman (finally) launched the Black Diamond today.  I’ve been hearing about this cigar for 3 years or so, and my understanding from past chats with folks within the organization is that it went through a few stages before bringing it to market officially.  It was originally going to be the Diamond Crown maduro repackaged, but they had such an affinity for the name an entirely new cigar was created for it.  It’s going to come in three vitolas (Emerald (6” x 52), Marquis (5-¼” x 56) and Radiant (4-½” x 54)), and retail for $16-20 per stick in boxes of 20.  It, like other Diamond Crown products, is being rolled by Fuente here in Santiago.  The wrapper is a CT Havana-seed wrapper grown in the DR (!), and it brings Dominican filler blend as well.  It is available at Diamond Crown lounges around the U.S. – but if history repeats availability will open up to other JC Newman accounts after 6 months or so.

The Oliva Serie V Maduro is stuck in a loop.  This year’s edition has begun to arrive in stores and it’s very familiar if you’re a regular fan of these.  For the 3rd year running, it’s in a 6” x 60 format and features a San Andres wrapper.  MSRP is about $10, with production numbers similar to recent years around 60-80k cigars.

Chogui has released its latest offering in the DR, although I haven’t yet smoked this one.  The Papa Chogui began to appear in the capital last week, and should be in Santiago at this point.  It will be showing up on American stores shelves already.  It’s a Dominican puro, and was rolled in 2014.  Total production was only 8,000 cigars, so if you’re a Chogui fan you might want to get your hands on them quickly.  They’ll set you back about $9/stick.

I suppose I can go ahead and smoke the lone original Tatuaje Pork Tenderloin that I have staring back at me in the humidor.  It’s making its return on the upcoming “Oh F*ck I’m Lost” tour by Tatuaje.  Additionally, the Pork Chop and Le Vignoble are coming.  Pete has said he tried to recreate the blends as closely as possible to the originals, using the same blend.  It will be extremely limited, in that it will only be sold at the 9 stores on the tour dates…but plans are in the works for subsequent releases.  The pricing is set at PT=$9, PC=$12, and LV=$12.  The details on those originals were:

Pork Tenderloin – 4” x 46 Nicaraguan puro

Pork Chop – 5-⅛” x 52 CT Broadleaf over Nicaragua/Nicaragua

Le Vignoble – 6” x 38 Ecuadoran Habano over Nicaragua/Nicaragua

What Else We’ve Been Smoking

We didn’t get around to this segment for Episode 156, as we were keen to talk with Zedman about his recent vacation in Cuba.  You don’t want to miss his take on his trip post-American influx.