In the News

By Gary Korb

It seems that about this time every year I get a lot of requests from readers who are new to smoking premium cigars and looking for some good suggestions. It's one of the things I enjoy doing most, because there's no greater reward than helping turn someone on to a good cigar, especially if they like it enough to stick with it.

But recommendations aren't always for beginners. There are plenty of experienced cigar smokers who continue to seek out new cigars, whether they be new releases or cigars that have been around a while which, for some reason, they may have missed or overlooked.

For this article, I've compiled a list of "start here," or "try this one first" cigars. In any event, if you've ever been curious about the following brands, you may want to start with these (listed alphabetically).

by Nick Foulkes | Newsweek online

They are called COSAS—an acronym for Comfortable Outdoor Smoking Area. And according to Jemma Freeman, the sixth-generation owner of the London-based Havana cigar importer Hunters & Frankau, “They are opening up in London at the rate of one a week.”

Havana may be the cradle of cigar making, but London is, arguably, the city where these golden-brown tubes of Cuban tobacco achieved their apotheosis as the gentleman’s postprandial pursuit. The bon vivant Edward VII ushered in a new era of pleasure after the death of his austere mother, Queen Victoria, with the memorable words, “Gentlemen, you may smoke.” A cigar was of course the constant companion of the greatest Englishman of the 20th century, Winston Churchill. And now it is Sir Terence Conran, the celebrated British designer, author, and restaurateur—seldom seen without a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2—who wears the mantle of most famous living British cigar smoker.  Story continues here

By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - A three-story brick building where cigarmakers learned their trade a century ago is now a modern university campus where students work toward degrees in clinical psychology and other professions.

During Argosy University's open house last week, scores of prospective students toured the refurbished building, erected in 1903 as the Berriman Cigar Factory.

As senior director of admissions at the Tampa campus, Gail Neidinger has introduced many students to the 107-year-old building at 1403 N. Howard Ave. "When we bring a student in for an interview we take them on a tour, and they love it," she said.  Story continues here

(Photo source: Tour the cigar factories when you are in Tampa, by Tom Ufer, Tampa Cigar Examiner)