1. Now is the time to start that band you have always dreamed of. Cigar boxes can easily be turned into awesome cigar box guitars. Find out how, here.
2. Use them to spruce up the house. Cigar boxes look great installed as crown molding in your home. Your wife will approve, we promise.
3. Did your wife say she wanted a Louis Vuitton for her birthday? I think she meant to say a Leon Jimenes. Install a handle on that cigar box and you’ve got yourself one unique cigar box purse that she is sure to love!
4. Cigar boxes make great art installations for the man cave. No need to purchase pricey paintings when you’ve got all the beautifully crafted artwork you will ever need sitting in a pile in your house! Plus, every time you see those cigar boxes hanging on your wall, you will remember the wonderful memories you made smoking those fine cigars. Win, win.
5. Display them proudly on your mantelpiece. Sure some people have trophies and awards, but here at Best Cigar Prices, we like to think of every empty cigar box as an achievement worth recognition. So go ahead, and put those empty cigar boxes right under the family portrait. (You may need to consider getting a trophy cabinet.)

So what are you planning to do with your ever-growing pile of empty cigar boxes?

Los Blancos Nine Toro (6x50)

This week we received another new stogie from the Los Blancos Cigar Co., the Nine, a maduro-wrapped stick featuring a blend of all-Nicaraguan premium tobaccos. Having enjoyed all of the Los Blancos’ cigars I had sampled previously, lighting up the Nine for today’s review seemed like a natural choice.

This cigar wore a thick, burly, and toothy dark-brown wrapper with visible oil deposits. The roll appeared solid, and pre-light notes were of a fruity sweetness that reminded me of raisins, along with some sweet cedar.

Upon lighting, I was treated to a sweet and crisp flavor of smoky cedar and cocoa through an appropriately firm draw. After the first few puffs, a note of fresh black pepper kicked in on the finish, followed by notes of nuts and cream. At this point the Nine officially had my attention.

As I reached the 2^nd third, the burn-line on the stick went just slightly astray beneath the marbled grey ash it was building, and the pepper cooled off quite a bit. After a minor touch-up with the torch I was back to burning razor-straight, and the flavor profile of the cigar remained nicely nuanced, with notes of dried fruit and roasted nuts joining the fold.

The final 3^rd of the Nine was smooth and super-rich, with pronounced notes of smoky cedar, sweet cocoa, coffee, and a touch of the black pepper returning to the finish. By now I was feeling the full-bodiedness of the cigar pretty intensely, and despite this I kept smoking, because, well, because it tasted good. I ended up smoking it down until about an inch remained.

The Los Blancos Nine showed more complexity in it’s first third than I’ve tasted in entire cigars with similar pricing. This cigar had awesome flavor from start to finish, along with a nice, slow burn. Aside from one bout of crooked burn in the beginning, the performance also left very little to be desired. So far Los Blancos is 5 for 5 in my book, and I’m giving the Nine a grade of A. I’m looking forward to seeing what else this brand will bring us in the future.

Have any questions or comments on our latest review? Feel free to post them below, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest cigar news, updates, and reviews.

During the CAO Amplify Your Summer Sweepstakes, when you order any box of eligible CAO cigars, not only are you getting some of the best smokes out there at the absolute best prices, you’ll also get a chance to win one of three rockin’ prizes, courtesy of CAO!

To sweeten the deal even more, we’ve giving away a FREE bag of CAO gourmet coffee with every box of CAO Italia and Brazilia sold, and a FREE 5-pack of stogies with every box of CAO Gold! Any way you slice it, you just can’t lose.

So don’t delay, place your order now for your chance to win! Grab a taste of the supremely rich and undeniably smooth CAO, and kick your summer off right!

Stricter regulations on premium cigars would mean the following:

• Ban on mail order cigar sales
• Ban on walk-in humidors
• Ban on cigar events where free cigars would be available to legal-age adults
• Limits on special release and small-batch cigars due to mandates that cigar blends be submitted to the FDA for pre-approval
• Limits on nicotine levels in cigars to near zero, severely impacting the flavor of cigars
• Higher taxes on cigars

The Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act has garnered support from many members of Congress and Senate as well as the cigar community, including the following recent advancements:

• U.S. Representative Fred Upton, R-Michigan and the Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, became a co-sponsor of H.R. 1639
• U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, an important member of Senate with seats on the Appropriations, Budget, Armed Services and Judiciary Committees, is now a co-sponsor of S. 1461
• The petition that was submitted to the White House reached 25k signatures in just over a week

While great strides are being made in the fight against FDA regulation of premium cigars, Best Cigar Prices’ encourages all cigar enthusiasts to voice their opinion by doing the following:

• Contact your state’s members of the House of Representatives and Senate and express your disapproval of the FDA regulating cigars
• Ask your state’s representatives to support and sponsor H.R. 1639 or S. 1461.

To learn more about Best Cigar Prices or to order cigars online please visit http://www.bestcigarprices.com/.

About Best Cigar Prices:

Best Cigar Prices, a leading online cigar distributor, carries, sells, and promotes all major brands of premium cigars, from the world’s bestselling brands to hard-to-find boutique lines Arturo Fuente cigars, CAO cigars, Acid cigars, and cigar accessories such as cigar cutters, cigar humidors, cigar ashtrays and cigar lighters.

Contact:

Best Cigar Prices
info@bestcigarprices.com
845-658-7610

In other new-stogie news, our good friends over at Alec Bradley Cigars have announced the introduction of yet another new line of cigars, the American Sun Grown. While all the details about the cigar have not yet been released, the blend used in the American Sun Grown has been described as similar to 2011′s American Classic, but with a bit more body and spice, thanks to its Nicaraguan Habano Jalapa wrapper. According to Alec Bradley regional sales manager Dave Topper the line will be available in the same six vitolas as the American Classic, and should be arriving on shelves sometime in June.

First off, this was a great looking cigar. The Elegancia had beautiful, elaborate banding covering a good percentage of the cigar, including a regal-looking baby blue foot band. Beyond that, the silky Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper was near flawless with just a slight oily sheen. After snipping the sturdy triple-cap, I was met with interesting pre-light notes of cedar with a light citrus tinge to it.

Right from the very first puff I took, this stogie was super creamy, piping ample notes of nuts and sweet cedar through a wide open draw. Unlike almost every other Don Pepin creation I’ve tasted, this one had no opening spice blast, though I definitely started to pick up hints of peppery spice on the finish a little further in. The thick, black burn-line on this beast was straight all the way around, and the cigar was burning clean and cool.

While the first 3^rd of this stogie was definitely smooth, the 2^nd third was even smoother. The woody and nutty flavor profile didn’t change too drastically here, though the draw remained effortless, and I began to taste some subtle floral notes during this portion. The flavor came across as very well-balanced, and by this point I had built up a thick, two-inch-plus ash.

In the final third of this stick the flavors deepened a bit, but stayed  smooth, with accents of coffee and nutmeg joining the fold. This fat stogie stayed cool, and burned razor-straight as I took it right down to the nub.

Lately I’ve sampled quite a few cigars that put an interesting spin on the typical Connecticut flavor profile, and the San Cristobal Elegancia Grandioso definitely falls into that category. This cigar was slightly sweet and creamy, as you would expect, but had an added element of subtle spiciness that really rounded out the taste quite nicely. Aside from that, everything about this cigar screamed quality, from its appearance, to the near-perfect burn and draw, right on down to its well-balanced and nuanced flavor. I declare the Elegancia Grandioso to be further evidence of Don Pepin Garcia’s cigar-genius, and give it an A grade. Fans of big-ring smokes and nice, easygoing flavor should definitely be checking this one out.

Have any comments or questions on our latest review? Feel free to post them below, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest cigar news, updates, and reviews.

Boasting awesomely rich taste, and sturdy Cuban-style construction, these stand-out stogies are sure to satisfy even the most particular of palates, and right now we’re letting them go for as low as $2.91 a stick! That’s an extremely generous discount on these undeniably tasty, slow-burning stogies that are bound to make it on to your list of solid go-to smokes.

So don’t delay, place your order now, and see for yourself why Los Blancos is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about brands of 2012, and save a bundle while doing so, courtesy of your friends at BCP

• Tax all tobacco products the same higher taxes that cigarettes are subject to
• Discourage minors from using tobacco products
• Increase government revenue (the legislation is estimated to boost government funds by $1 billion)

If the legislation is passed, we can expect the “Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012” to significantly increase the cost of purchasing premium cigars.

• Tax ceiling on large cigars would be raised over 150%, from 40.26 cents to 100.66 cents
• A tax floor would be created starting at 5.033 cents

The legislation will also greatly impact the cigar industry and all of the jobs associated with it. Currently, the premium cigar industry has created 85,000 jobs in the United States and hundreds of thousands throughout the world. If this legislation passes, those individuals who rely on this industry for their livelihood could be left unemployed. The legislation would also eliminate cigar events where cigars are passed out to cigar smokers of legal age and curtail the creation of new cigar blends.

If you are against this legislation, we encourage you to make your voice heard. Contact your state senators and tell them your opinion on the Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012. The premium cigar industry is at stake and we still need to take every action possible in order to protect premium cigars from unfair and unwarranted regulation.

La Flor Dominicana Culebra

freaky cigars. These novelty cigars are some of the tastiest conversation starters we have ever seen.

La Flor Dominicana Culebra: Meaning “snake” in Spanish, it is no wonder where the La Flor Dominicana Culebra got its name. This cigar closely resembles three snakes braided together. This unique cigar has been around since the early 1800’s and today very few companies produce them. Separate the three sticks and smoke each individually or smoke all three cigars at once, it’s up to you! This cigar is an awesome rarity to have in your humidor.

Natural Egg by Drew Estate: While the Natural Egg by Drew Estate sounds more like something you would order at a breakfast place, it is one heck of a cigar. This beast of a stogie contains tobacco from 12 different countries. Yes, you heard us right, 12 different countries: Brazil, Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Syria, Turkey, and several locales in the United States. As you could imagine, this cigar is very complex with a number of flavors including chocolate, coffee, black and red pepper, cream, vanilla, and more. Pull this mother of all cigars out of your humidor and you could impress just about anyone.

Puros Indios Especial Chief: The Puros Indios Especial Chief is one big ass cigar. There really are no other words to describe it. Good luck trying to finish this 18″ x 66 ring gauge cigar (and trying to fit it in your humidor).
CAO Sopranos Limited Edition Sampler: If your favorite fictional cigar aficionado is Tony Soprano, then this one is for you. The CAO Sopranos Limited Edition Sampler contains two champagne bottle shaped cigars, two baseball bat cigars, and a massive bullet-like torpedo cigar, all wrapped in a gunmetal case.

Arganese Doublewrap Churchill: This beauty is one of the few cigars to feature the pin-striped style Maduro and Natural wrappers. It is reminiscent of a barber’s pole, albeit a very tasty barber’s pole that is summoning you to light it up and smoke it.

My Father Cigars Pipe: Last but not least on our list of bizarre cigar oddities is the My Father Cigars Pipe. This pipe shaped cigar is allegedly only rolled by one of two people: José “Pepín” García or Jaime García’s wife, Dany, who is also a highly skilled roller. The My Father Cigars Pipe is extremely rare so if you happen to see one don’t let it slip through your fingers!

What is the strangest cigar you have ever smoked?

 I recognized immediately that this small stogie had a gorgeous, toothy, and extremely dark brown Brazilian wrapper. Construction appeared solid, and after a quick snip of the cap I was treated to dense pre-light flavors of cedar, cocoa, pepper, and leather. It was time to get toastin’.

 The cigar opened up with a surprising bit of cocoa sweetness, accompanied by rich notes of roasted coffee and cedar upon lighting. A good bit of black pepper was present in the finish, rounding out the initial flavor profile nicely. The burn had started off with a little lean to it, but I wasn’t too concerned.

 When I reached the 2^nd third of the cigar, a lot of tasty maduro character came out. I was getting strong flavors of molasses, leather, cocoa, and nuts, with a little bit of peppery zing. The burn evened itself out during this portion, and I was building a thick dark-grey and white-striped ash. The draw was a little bit firm for my tastes, especially on such a small cigar like this, but I had no complaints about the smooth, balanced taste at all.

 As I burned into the final third, the flavor matured a bit, and notes of dried fruit, and just a hint of anise piped up. This last chapter of the stick had significantly less pepper to it, and more of an earthy vibe. The Brazilia burned razor-straight and tasted great until it became too small for me to hold onto anymore.  

 Without question, the Brazilia Cariocas tasted awesome, and burned damn good as well. It was full-flavored all the way, and left me with a nice aftertaste. The only thing I found to be lacking was the draw, which was a little too tight for the duration of the smoke. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, and would smoke the CAO Brazilia again without question, as I am definitely interested in trying this cigar in a larger vitola. For now, I’m giving the CAO Brazilia Cariocas a solid B+ grade, and I highly recommend it for fans of maduro stogies. As an added bonus, while supplies last, we’re offering a free bag of CAO Brazilia Blend Coffee with each box of any size sold (same goes for the Italia blend), so if rich smokes and fine java are your thing, this is the perfect combo.

 Have any questions on our latest review? Feel free to post them below, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest cigar news, updates, and reviews.