Cigar Coop Prime Time Show

On Prime Time Episode 330, Dan Thompson, President of Micallef Cigars returns our special guest. Dan has been at the helm of Micallef Cigars for the past five years. We will look back on his past five years, plus look ahead for how he sees the future. We will also have our FSG Beef, Alec Bradley Live True, Espinosa, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Industry Deliberation segments.  

On Prime Time Jukebox Episode 150, we look at the year 1984 in music. 1984 is considered a very pivotal year when it came to pop music. Dave and Coop look back at the songs  and trends from this very interesting year in music. On this show, Dave smokes the CAO Brazilia Corcovado and Coop smokes the Padron Serie 1926 40th Anniversary Maduro As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists: Episode 150 Playlist Dave’s Top 50 Songs of 2024 References Top 50 x OOPS! New Oldies 2024 Garth Hudson, Last Surviving Member of the Band, Dies at 87 Historic Week for the Cigar Industry Developing Palates: Cigar Media 2024 Panel

We left our "green room" chat into the final cut of this episode. On Prime Time Episode 329, it’s the return of Matt Booth, founder of Room101 Cigars and creative director at Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) who is our special guest. This is Matt’s sixth time on the Thursday night show. It’s always a little unpredictable what happens when Matt Booth is on, but we will try to catch up on happenings as he completes his third year with STG. We will also have our FSG Beef, Alec Bradley Live True, Espinosa, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Industry Deliberation segments.

On Prime Time Special Edition 170, we welcome back Mike Copperman and Cody Carden of Cigar Rights of America. Mike has been with CRA for over a decade and last year was promoted to the Executive Director position. Cody works as the Director of Communications. We will get an update on some of the key initiatives with CRA.

On Prime Time Jukebox Episode 149, it's our In Memoriam Episode for 2024.We look back and reflect on the careers and contributions of many artists who passed away in 2024. On this show, Dave smokes the Hamlet Tabaquero and Coop smokes the Aladino Corojo. As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists: Episode 149 Playlist Dave's Top 50 Songs of 2024 References Top 50 x OOPS! The New Oldies 2024 Album of the Year Countdown Dolly Parton Launches Open Casting Call For Her ‘Dolly: An Original Musical’ Broadway Show U2’s Bono Among 19 Honorees to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025 Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Win Best Original Score at Golden Globes 2025 for Challengers Developing Palates Team Cigar Review: Gellis Saunter - Developing Palates - Cigar, Beer and Spirit Reviews and Ratings

The 2024 Cigar Coop Cigar of the Year is the Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro Epicure. Perdomo Cigars is not known for frequently releasing all-new lines. As a result, there is a heightened level of excitement when a new Perdomo release occurs. There was understandably a lot of buzz when the company did have a big new release in 2023. Additionally, it was a special one as it commemorated a significant milestone: 30 years in business for Nick Perdomo and his family. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uGI

The Aladino Classic Elegante by JRE Tobacco Co. is ranked second on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown. The Aladino Classic Elegante is a lancero-size line extension introduced to the Aladino Classic line in 2023. JRE Tobacco Co is known for using Authentic Corojo tobacco from its farms. At the same time, the company grows other types of tobacco, one of which is Habano leaf. Since Habano is known as a classic tobacco leaf, the name Aladino Classic was adopted. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uGD

Coming in at #3 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Casa Magna Colorado Lancero LE by Quesada Cigars. The story of the Casa Magna Colorado is well known. It started as a collaboration between two legendary names in the world of cigar making – Manuel Quesada and Nestor Plasencia. Since then, the Casa Magna Colorado has garnered many accolades. Today, Casa Magna Colorado is produced by Quesada's TABADEX factory in the Dominican Republic. Late in 2023, the company announced a limited run of the 7 x 40 Lancero LE. It is worth noting that several years earlier, it had released another lancero size under Casa Magna Colorado. That previous iteration measured 8 1/4 x 40. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uGm  

Coming in at #4 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Kristoff Tres Compadres Toro. The name Tres Compadres means “three friends.” In this case, it is a tribute from Kristoff owner Glen Case to two of his close friends who recently passed away, Chuck Finch and Rolando Villamil. Case would often refer to the three of them as the three amigos. Rolando Villamil is a name that may be pretty familiar if you cover the cigar industry, as he ran Tabacalera Von Eicken in the Dominican Republic, where all of Kristoff’s cigars are produced. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uFT

On Prime Time Episode 328, we begin the year 2025. It’s our ninth season of the Prime Time Show, and once again we kick things off with Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars. Things are never slow over at Tatuaje Cigars, and we will catch up with Pete on the latest happenings and look back at 2024. We will also have our FSG Beef, Alec Bradley Live True, Espinosa, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Industry Deliberation segments.

Coming in at #5 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Conviction by Rocky Patel. With its well-publicized $100.00 price point, Conviction is Rocky Patel Premium Cigars’ most ultra-premium offering. The name Conviction was inspired by Rocky’s commitment and passion for the cigar industry. There were several elements which went into making the Conviction as an ultra-premium offering. This includes: i Incorporating high-quality-tobaccos Incorporating aged tobaccos, with the wrapper undergoing tercio-aging for the wrapper Using highly skilled pairs, each rolling 500 cigars maximum per day Integrating exquisite packaging Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uF4

Coming in at #6 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Domain Neutron Toro. Domain Cigars is part of a partnership between Esteban Disla and Daniel Lance. Disla is widely known for his tenure at the Nica Sueno factory, while Lance is an entrepreneur from the cigar business’s retail side. While the two own Domain Cigars, they are also partners in their ownNicaraguanfactory, Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A. Recently, the factory has established a “residency,” bringing in two industry veterans to join the team:Kevin Baxter (formerly of Asylum) and Esteban’s brother Raul Disla (formerly of NACSA). Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uEG

Coming in at #7 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Perdomo 30th Anniversary Connecticut Epicure. The Perdomo 30th Anniversary line was easily one of the most anticipated cigar lines to hit the market in recent memory. It’s hard to believe that about 18 months the world first got a look at the Perdomo 30th Anniversary line at the 2023 Premium Cigar Association Trade Show. In fact, when it came to the final packaging, Perdomo’s Arthur Kemper and Nicholas Perdomo III kept the design under wraps from CEO Nick Perdomo until the night before the Trade Show. A few months later, Perdomo would ship its 30th anniversary to retailers. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uDu

Prime Time Jukebox Episode 148 features our 18th installment of our Album Archaeology Series, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. This album won our 2024 Battle of the Bands – 1970s Tournament, and was the album drafted by Espinosa Cigars’ Hector Alfonso. To celebrate Wish You Were Here‘s win, we devote an Album Archaeology to this album. We are also joined by John McTavish of Developing Palates who also participated in this year’s tournament. Much like an archaeologist digs and hunts for gems, on Album Archaeology we dig deep into an album. We examine each of the tracks of this album looking at the music, lyrics, and stories behind this album. As always you can follow along with our Spotify Playlists: Episode 148 Playlist Dave’s Top 50 Songs of 2024 References Dave's Top 50 Battle of the Bands 1970s Wayne Osmond, Original Member of the Osmonds Singing Group, Dies at 73 Bob Bryar, Former My Chemical Romance Drummer, Dies at 44

Coming in at #8 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Tatuaje 20th Anniversary Reserva RL22. As a part of its 20th-anniversary celebration in 2023, Tatuaje Cigars had several cigar releases to commemorate the occasion. Late in 2023, Tatuaje unveiled a pair of limited edition cigars made at the Garcia family's El Rey de los Habanos factory in Miami. These cigars were the 20th Anniversary Escasos EL22 and the Reserva RL22. Tatuaje's roots are in Miami, so it made sense to do something from the factory that started it all for Pete Johnson. Both blends were rolled in 2021 and had been aging in boxes since 2022 before shipping late in 2023. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uCw

Coming in at #9 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Las 6 Provincias ZDT by Espinosa Cigars. The ZDT is the fifth installment of Espinosa’s limited-edition Las 6 Provincias series. This annual limited edition series pays homage to the pre-Castro era of Cuba. The name Las 6 Provincias means “six provinces,” – and it refers to the six provinces that existed before the takeover of Cuba by Fidel Castro. Las 6 Provincias is Espinosa Cigars’ most premium limited edition series. The company has six planned Las 6 Provincias series releases, each with a unique blend, size, and associated artwork. The name ZDT stands for Zona de Tabaco, the name given to the Pinar del Rio province in the western part of Cuba. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uC1

Coming in at #10 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Casa Cuevas La Mandarria Oscuro. La Mandarria Oscuro is the second blend by Casa Cuevas under the La Mandarria line.  The La Mandarria line is a lemon-to-lemonade story for Casa Cuevas Cigars. La Mandarria translates to “The Sledgehammer.” The inspiration for La Mandarria came from the devastating effects of a robbery in the company’s warehouse earlier in 2019. A sledgehammer was used to break into the warehouse. Later that year, Casa Cuevas released the first La Mandarria. La Mandarria pays homage to how Casa Cuevas overcame the adversity of the robbery. La Mandarria was initially released in a Habano wrapper as a limited edition offering. A year later, La Mandarria became a regular production offering.   Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uBE

The Asylum Sensorium Asen 60 from C.L.E. Cigar Company is ranked 11th on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown. Asylum Sensorium is a limited edition super premium offering from C.L.E Cigar Company, which was founded by Christian Eiroa. Notably, the blend is highlighted by tobacco grown by Christian's father,Julio R. Eiroa, known as Piñareno. Piñareno is a low-yield tobacco that is challenging to grow. If you know something about Julio R. Eiroa, you will realize he is no stranger to taking on the challenge of cultivating tobacco. Most notably, he overcame the significant challenge of bringing Authentic Corojo back to the market. Despite the difficulties associated with growing Piñareno, the Eiroas firmly believe it is worth the effort due to its exceptional flavor. Therefore, with the release of Asylum Sensorium, Christian decided to feature Piñareno in a super-premium cigar. Fittingly, he incorporated it into the Asylum brand, which is recognized for pushing boundaries—not just in terms of large ring gauges.

Coming in at #12 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Aladino Limited Edition by JRE Tobacco Co 2023 edition. Since Julio and Justo Eiroa launched JRE in 2016, much of the focus has been on building up the regular product offerings in its portfolio. This is a limited-edition offering, as indicated by the name. The Aladino Limited Edition was created while JRE was developing the soon-to-be-released Julio R. Eiroa birthday cigar. The Aladino Limited Edition debuted at the 2023 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, and at the time, it sounded like this would be a one-and-done release. However, with the success of the 2023 release, the Aladino Limited Edition made a return for 2024 with the same blend. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uzx

Coming in at #13 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown 601 La Bomba Warhead X by Espinosa Cigars. One of the most popular annual limited-edition cigar series to hit the market over the past decade is the 601 La Bomba Warhead Series. This series has an excellent track record of success, landing on the Cigar Coop Countdown eight times. Warhead is an extension of the original 601 La Bomba line, but it replaces the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper with a Broadleaf wrapper. As the name suggests, it is intended to be a strong, bold cigar. Full Details: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-uyD