Lane: Welcome to another installment of Cigar Cafe Radio. I’m back from vacation in Mexico and reenergized! What’s going on guys?

Sean: My son broke his thumb at football practice this week.

Harris: I spent the holiday weekend at the lake playing with the kids

What are we smoking today?

Harris: I’m smoking a new arrival. The Joya de Nicaragua Cuatro Cinco Reserva Especial toro. That is a mouthful. It is barrel aged. I just lit it up. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Camacho American Barrel Aged Cigars. The Cuatro Cinco has only been released to Drew Diplomat Retailers aka DDRP. DDRP retailers are the top accounts for Drew Estate around the US.

Sean: Intro

Lane is on vacation yet again. Is this fair? I’m living vicariously through him. I am guest hosting today.

What have you been smoking lately Harris?

Harris: I tried something new this week. Room 101 Johnny Tobacconaut Chingonova is a new release from Room 101. Room 101 is under the Camacho brand and is owned by Davidoff. Famous Jewelry designer and cigar aficionado Matt Booth is the face and creative force behind the brand.

Johnny Tobacconaut is a 3500 box production from Room 101

Sean: We have a few college football games this week to kickoff the college season. Michigan vs. Utah and North Carolina vs. South Carolina

Lane Intro. Welcome special guest Garrett Calhoun Southeast Sales Rep for Davidoff of Geneva!!

What’s everyone been up to and smoking?

Sean: It’s all about football for me right now. I’m into watching college football. Also my son has football right now nearly every day.

Cigars & Youth Sports – Sean is coaching his son’s team. Had to go to the corner of the parking lot to light up a cigar. Overall people were more positive about it than negative.

Sean: What are you guys smoking today?

Harris: I’m smoking the new Fratello Bianco. I looked the size up on their site. It is the 5×44 event exclusive size. This cigar was a sample given to me at the IPCPR by the owner Omar de Frias. It is off to a great start with hints of vanilla.

Wrapper: San Andres Negro

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Pennsylvanian, Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers

Price: free at events other sizes will be $8-$10

Lane: The 2015 AVO Limited Edition Classic Covers cigar. AVO releases a limited edition cigar every year around AVO’s birthday. This one is more full body than last year’s. It has hints of spice and cocoa. The AVO LE blends are my favorite of any limited edition cigars.

Sean: What’s going on today guys?

Harris: Things are busy around the shops with new arrivals coming in.

Lane: I’m smoking the Davidoff Escurio today. It is not nearly as strong as I thought it would be. It is a little stronger than the Davidoff Nicaragua and is very complex. I like it!

Sean: I smoke the Oliva V this weekend on my lake trip and these others:

My Father no.3 crema – Best of the weekend

Couldn’t bring myself to smoke my Liga Privada T52 yet

Also smoked an Undercrown by Drew Estate – Always one of my favorites

Sean: I ran into a weird thing this weekend, Tunneling. I’ve never had this happened before. Harris said it is probably a humidity or construction issue and is fairly rare.

Sean: I bought a Kristoff Corojo Limitada that I’m gonna smoke today. There are no real good cigar stores near my house. They look like head shops without the weed with a tiny humidor. The one place I went to had two Ashton’s but had a whole wall of Acids by the way they had one Alec Bradley too.

Harris: Sometimes its tough to find a place dedicated to the industry that does a good job of getting a variety of great smokes especially with all of the boutique brands out there.

Harris: I am smoking the new Gurkha release called The Extreme. It’s got a big snake on the band and it’s 6″x 63 ring gauge. It’s a nice medium body cigar in the $10 to $12 range.

Lane: I’m in one of the Cigars and More shops and I’m smoking a My Father Lounge Exclusive that was made specifically for Cigars and More. It’s a power house for sure.

In this weeks podcast we talk about new cigar smokers. The Insidious by Asylum. Cigar smoking vs Pipe smoking & Birmingham’s own GTO Brand.

Cigars to Try

Mild –

Full bodied – AVO Signature Small Corona

Dominican, well balanced, builds in intensity throughout.

Ecuadorean Sun grown Connecticut wrapper, fermented at Davidoff in DR.

Filler is a blend of several (Dominican) Cibao ˌsí-BOW Valley tobaccos, including Ligero that packs a little more punch

Binder is also Dominican

Magic City Brewfest

Annual Birmingham area craft beer festival put on by Free the Hops

Friday and Saturday this weekend

19 Alabama based breweries, 61+ other craft beer makers and 5 cider makers to be represented

Event takes place at Sloss Furnace

Tickets are still available for purchase through Ticketmaster

I’ll be there Saturday afternoon from 4p to 8p.

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest weekly installment of the Cigar Café podcast. I’m Lane Oden and I’m joined by my co-host and owner of Cigars and More, Harris Saunders. If you’re a regular listener, we’d like to welcome you back caught our last episode, welcome back. And if this is your first time, we’re glad to have you join us too. For our new listeners, we started this show to cover the cigar lifestyle. And, to us, that lifestyle revolves around enjoying the finer things in life with people you’re close to.

Welcome to another installment of the The Cigar Cafe Radio. I am your host Lane Oden. I’m joined today by Cohost and owner of Cigars & More Harris Saunders. Sean Kavanaugh our producer is at the helm today. We have a special guest with us today. Jason Robnett from CLE and Asylum Cigars. Jason welcome to the show!

– Jason Robnett is the Southeast regional sales manager for CLE and Asylum Cigars

Jason how did you get into the cigar world?

Jason: I smoked my first cigar 10 years ago. Through a series of events (job change, breakup etc.) I ended up going to Europe with friends and smoked my first premium cigar at the Colesseum in Rome.

Jason: I am from Walker County, Alabama the hit man capitol of the world. Tobacco, snuff etc. never appealed to me before this trip to Europe. I was changed after that.