What's in a name? Partagas

Old Cuban Partagás Band

Jaime Partagás worked for a number of years in the Cuban cigar business before he ventured out on his own to establish a factory to make his own brand.  Partagás cigars were born in 1845 Cuba.  After  Jaime became the unfortunate victim of murder, presumably out of retaliation from an affair, his son, José assumed control of the brand.

Just Let it Die

Cigars vary in their ability to be smoked down to a nub.  Some cigars remain amazing consistent, with great flavor right past the band, until you are burning your finger tips.  Other blends are less accommodating and may even begin to lose their optimal flavor around the halfway mark.  When you finally call it quits, do everyone a favor, and let the cigar die with dignity. 

What is this wacky term Retrohale? (your nasal passages can do this?)

Retrowhat?  Retrohale.  It’s a term you may have already encountered and been puzzled by.  If you have never heard it, listen for it and you will.  Any serious discussion among a couple of cigar fiends will doubtlessly end up with at least a mention of the retrohale of the cigar.  In short, retrohale is, as its name hints at, a reverse, or retro, inhale.  So it’s a backwards inhale, also more plainly known as an exhale, but with one important distinction: while you draw the smoke in through your mouth –and never inhale it into your lungs- with your mouth closed, you exhale some amount of smoke through your nose.

New Year's Day

New Year’s Day is a fun day of bowl games, cooking, relaxing, perhaps a few beers, and certainly a couple of cigars.  January 1 also marks the start of the modern cigar industry.  January 1, 1959 marked the culmination of the so called Cuban revolution that was unleashed on the island by Castro’s 26^th of July Movement that began with the attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.  Batista had fled and Castro had seized the country.  He then set about seizing the personal property and businesses of the citizens.