News — Brand Spotlights & Reviews

Unique Packaging The Dutch Masters brand of naturally wrapped cigars began being sold in the United States back in 1911. The brand is known by many due to its unique packaging that features Rembrandt’s 1662 painting known as The Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild (De Staalmeesters). The men in the painting are known as drapers, and they were elected to determine the quality of cloth that weavers offered for sale to members of their association. There were four grades of quality, and a cloth’s quality was shown by the number of seals pressed into it. Four seals was the highest...

I didn’t get it. I don’t know why, but my Cult Fuerte was anything but. Fuerte is Spanish for strong or vigorous. My Cult Fuerte wasn’t. It’s touted as a full-bodied cigar with a well-balanced assertive flavor profile. After all, it has an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Ometepe Nicaraguan binder, and Jalapa, Nicaraguan filler. The one I smoked, and I know that I may have got the exception rather than the rule, was medium at best. I had one concept of the cigar in my mind, and got a whole different taste than I was expecting. I went online to see...

  Cigars have often gotten an unfair stereotype for being a rich man’s luxury.  Certainly, the fact that most good quality cigars are hand-rolled make the products more costly than their mass produced counterparts in the cigarette industry.  But many affordable cigars still offer a pleasant and satisfying smoking experience.  But this does bring up an interesting question:  Just what are the most expensive cigars in the world?  Narrowing down this list can be a bit tricky since product lines vary and international distribution through online companies may cause the prices to fluctuate slightly.  But here is a list (alphabetically,...