
Interview with Heiko Poerz
Interview with Heiko Poerz, the owner and designer of HENK, a luxury design company with a large range of cigar accessories. And even cigars, which made it to the Ministry of Cigars Top 25 of 2019, and Top 25 of 2020. For those that don’t know HENK, what is HENK? Who...

Interview with Jessi Flores
Interview with Jessi Flores. Flores is a Nicaraguan born, American raised graffiti and tattoo artist. Together with Jonathan Drew from Drew Estate he changed the use of art in the cigar industry. Graffiti, rodents, large murals. Things new to the cigar industry. A...

Interview with Abe Flores
Interview with Abe Flores. Last week, Ministry of Cigars had the pleasure to interview Abe Flores. Flores is the co-owner of the Blue Star Cigar Factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic. And the owner of the PDR, A. Flores 1975, and Flores y Rodriguez brands. As well...

Interview with Jose Blanco
Interview with Jose Blanco. Last month, Ministry of Cigars had the pleasure to interview Jose Blanco. The former director of sales for Grupo Leon Jimenes, former blender and director of sales for La Aurora. Former vice-president of sales for Joya de Nicaragua. The...

An interview with Mike Choi
An interview with Mike Choi. In the world of Cuban cigars, Mike Choi is a known name. He's a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Habanos. He was the UK Habanos sommelier in 2013, and runner up at the competition at the 2014 Habanos festival. But Choi isn't all about...

Interview with Ermen Soares from Primazia Decorama
An interview with Ermen Soares from Primazia Decorama. Since the founding of ministryofcigars.com, we have published quite some news articles about Angola. Primazia Decorama is the distribution vehicle of Ermen Soares, who also owns the Men’s Emporium shop in Luanda....

Cigar Rights of Europe interview
Cigar Rights of Europe interview. Legislation in Europe is getting more strict. So strict that even distributors like Cubacigar Benelux file lawsuits against governments. And in a protest against nanny state regulations, the Cigar Rights of Europe was founded. More...

An interview with Bobby Newman
An interview with Bobby Newman. Recently, Ministry of Cigars had the opportunity to interview Bobby Newman and Cristal Blackwell Lastra from J.C. Newman. They were visiting Singapore for the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition. And in their busy schedule, they made time...

An interview with Tony Hoevenaars
Tony Hoevenaars is the Managing Director of Cubacigar Benelux. Cubacigar Benelux is the distributor of Cuban cigars in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. And recently, they filed a lawsuit versus the Dutch state about the new legislation. Reason for us to do an...

Interview with Nick Hammond
Interview with Nick Hammond. Years ago, during a cigar event, we met Nick Hammond. Hammond was at the event as a reporter for Cigar Journal and we were part of the organization. And since we are all cigar smokers, it was instant friendship. Earlier this week, we saw...

Interview with Nuzli Hakiim
Last night we met up with the Singaporean designer Nuzli Hakiim (31) at one of the finest cigar friendly places in Singapore, Grand Cafe Cheval. On the outdoor patio, in the rolling hills of Kranji, overlooking horse stables and enjoying some peace that’s hard to find...

Casdagli Club Mareva Gran Mareva
Casdagli Club Mareva Gran Mareva. A cigar that found its origin in 2010, when Marko Bilic opened his cigar club in Split, Croatia. The name of the club is Club Mareva. And to celebrate the opening of the now-famous club, Jeremy Casdagli created a cigar line for that...

Kristoff Shade Grown Robusto
Kristoff Shade Grown Robusto. This blend was released in 2019 but there are rumors that it’s actually an old blend that made a return under a new name. Yet those rumors are unconfirmed and thus Ministry of Cigars won’t say that it is the same cigar unlike one of the...

Liga Privada Unico Bauhaus
Liga Privada Unico Bauhaus. Over the past few years, Drew Estate has done some exclusive releases for the European market. For example an Undercrown Shade vitola for the German John Aylesbury Group. And the original release of the Undercrown Maduro Flying Pig was a...

Hoyo de Monterrey Primaveras
Hoyo de Monterrey Primaveras, a cigar for the Chinese zodiac calendar. For the Year of the Ox. It is the second official Habanos release for the Chinese zodiac calendar after the Romeo y Julieta Maravillas. Although the Spanish distributor tested the water a year...

The T Toro Grande
The T Toro Grande. Collaborations in the cigar industry are not uncommon. Balmoral with La Flor Dominicana and Ernesto Perez Carrillo for example. Or Drew Estate with Robert Caldwell. A.J. Fernandez with Altadis. The list is too long to write down. But a collaboration...

La Sagrada Familia Maduro Robusto Extra
La Sagrada Familia Maduro Robusto Extra. The second blend of the Dutch cigar brand La Sagrada Familia. Dutch cigar enthusiast Tom Mulder fell in love with cigars on a trip to Cuba. Back home he became a regular at the Van Dalen Cigars shop in Den Bosch where he met...

Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor
Muestra de Saka Unstolen Valor. We feel that Steve Saka doesn’t need any introduction. The first cigar blogger back in the day, then a consultant for JR Cigars. Former CEO of Drew Estate, where he changed the course of the company from infused cigars to a hugely...

VegaFina Year of the Ox
VegaFina Year of the Ox. One of the many brands that create a cigar commemorating the Chinese zodiac calendar. And a fitting review for today as the Year of the Ox starts today. VegaFina joined the brands that celebrate Chinese New Year a few years ago. Last year,...

Liga Privada Unico Year of the Rat
Liga Privada Unico Year of the Rat, a fitting cigar to end the Year of the Rat. Last year we reviewed another Liga Privada Year of the Rat, but that had nothing to do with the Chinese Zodiac calendar. This one does, as it’s a limited edition specifically created for...

Liga Privada T52 Flying Pig
Liga Privada T52 Flying Pig. The fifth and last cigar from the Liga Privada Year of the Rat sampler for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rat. Ministry of Cigars started the year of the rat with a series of reviews of Year of the Rat cigars. But this sampler wasn’t in...

Liga Privada #9 Flying Pig
Liga Privada #9 Flying Pig. The fourth cigar from the Liga Privada Year of the Rat sampler for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rat. Ministry of Cigars started the year of the rat with a series of reviews of Year of the Rat cigars. But this sampler wasn’t in our...

Liga Privada Velvet Rat
Liga Privada Velvet Rat. The third cigar from the Liga Privada Year of the Rat sampler for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rat. Ministry of Cigars started the year of the rat with a series of reviews of Year of the Rat cigars. But this sampler wasn’t in our possession...

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla
Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla. The second cigar from the Liga Privada Year of the Rat sampler for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rat. Ministry of Cigars started the year of the rat with a series of reviews of Year of the Rat cigars. But this sampler wasn’t in our...

Interview with Heiko Poerz
Interview with Heiko Poerz, the owner and designer of HENK, a luxury design company with a large range of cigar accessories. And even cigars, which made it to the Ministry of Cigars Top 25 of 2019, and Top 25 of 2020. For those that don’t know HENK, what is HENK? Who...

Liga Privada Nasty Fritas
Liga Privada Nasty Fritas. The younger sibling of the Papas Fritas. And part of the Liga Privada Year of the Rat sampler for the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rat. Ministry of Cigars started the year of the rat with a series of reviews of Year of the Rat cigars. But this...

El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero
El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero. El Viejo Continente is the brand of Daniel Guerrero. A life long cigar enthusiast who partnered up with Emiliano Lagos to create cigars to his likings. And that’s how El Viejo Continente was born. There are several lines available,...

Puro Ambar Legacy Robusto
Puro Ambar Legacy Robusto. Or should it be a Grand Robusto as it’s larger and thicker than the standard 5x50 Robusto Vitola? Anyway, the Puro Ambar brand is part of the portfolio Tabacalera El Artista. Recently the brand got an overhaul. New packaging and a new blend....

Hiram & Solomon Entered Apprentice Robusto
Hiram & Solomon Entered Apprentice Robusto. The mildest of all the Hiram & Soloman cigars. Their entry-level cigar so to say. And named after the first degree of the masonry to make it fit. The Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason are the three...

Casdagli Basilica C #1 Maduro
Casdagli Basilica C #1 Maduro. The only Maduro blend in the Casdagli Basilica line. Where there three sizes for the Casdagli Basilica C blend, there is only one size for the Casdagli Basilica C Maduro version. The same goes for the Casdagli Basilica A. The line is...

VegaFina Fusion Edition
VegaFina Fusion Edition. There are many collaborations in the cigar industry. Blenders working together. Factories working together. There are some well-known collaborations. Drew Estate making the coffee-infused Java for Rocky Patel. Or Drew Estate and Robert...