Not having been able to attend the Chicago Pipe Show this year, I asked around to see how it had gone, and also how pipe smoking was faring in general. Five well-connected...

Platinum Nova Cigars has been crafting fine smokes for more than a decade, in its early years only for the private consumption of the family and friends of the company owners. It...

Like so many families in the cigar industry, the Plasencias are no strangers to the challenges and occasional heartbreak of pursuing their love of working with tobacco. From...

1. What’s got you excited about Dunbarton this year?Most folks would expect me to answer about this blend or that brand, but for me, it is who we are as a company overall. From...

Doyle Brunson played professional poker for over 50 years. He was a two-time World Series of Poker main event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, wrote several books on...

Rahul Gupta didn’t intend to join the family business, one which his father began four decades earlier. His father never pushed him, emphasizing education and encouraging him to...

Quality and consistency—these are the two factors necessary for any successful product. When speaking about premium cigars, these two things are even more critical. Some of the...

When Dr. Gaby Kafie retired from practicing medicine in 2008, he set his sights on his other burning interest, the manufacturing of fine cigars. With roots in Honduras dating...

Success did not come overnight for Erik Espinosa. Today, the mention of Espinosa Premium Cigars may make you think of its well-known factory, La Zona. It may also make you...

It was only in December 2021 that Joshua and Cynn Coburn made official their purchase of Dissident Cigars, a boutique brand that has passed through a number of ownership hands in...

It was an impromptu meeting on the PCA show floor—some knowing each other for years, others meeting for the first time. It started as light banter, bonding over the common...

When launching a business, one of the first questions to answer is, “How are we different?” For the proprietor of El Septimo, a relative newcomer in the cigar industry, the...