Wear the brand new AZTECA shirt for the full IPCPR event and George Rico will be your personal blender and roller.

To help support your visitors, and show thanks for the dedication, you will get a 1 on 1 personal consultation with Mr. Rico. During this time you will craft a unique blend that George will hand roll himself. After the cigars are ready to ship you will receive 100 of your very own, personal, masterpieces.

Any blogger who wishes to participate can stop by the Gran Habano booth to pick up their AZTECA shirt. All participants must be proud to rock the chain, and no cover-ups will be allowed.

We really enjoy this review because it’s the first time we see the AZTECA box, bands, and cigars together and making its own way in this big scary world (kind of like a kid growing up?). I think it’s best if you read this review on your own and enjoy all the pictures he posted for our entertainment and information. Just two quick quotes: “the fact it has this much flavor and remains this smooth is amazing.” And “The last inch: And i am Sad”

So check out the review at the BOTL.org Forums:
http://www.botl.org/community/forums/showthread.php?t=41463

Today we bring you a review from one of our favorite travel destinations – Sin City. Justin Holman of LasVegASHTV.com sits down with a Robusto Grande G.A.R (White Label) and shares his thoughts.

I don’t want to take much of his “thunder” before everyone watches the video. But I think it is important to share a few key points from the review:

The Robusto Grande takes over an hour to smoke and Justin makes note of how much tobacco is actually packed into the cigar.

Mr. Holman makes mention of our “really cool packaging” and likes the white box and foot band.

He says the flavors are “earthy smoke”, woody-hay tones and really enjoyable. The body was in the full range for Justin.

Our favorite quote from the video: “Hour and a half of just pure enjoyment”.

So enjoy the smoking good review from Justin and type LasVegASHTV.com into your browser to check out all the cool articles and videos.

P.S.
Justin, in the beginning of the video you wanted to know where the G.A.R. name originates from. I took this question directly to George A. Rico who said it was important that we keep the mystique behind it so, unfortunately, we are unable to share that information.

Enjoy the video:

On this Sunday, June 20, 2010 we hope everyone has the opportunity to sit down with the important person in your life, have a good smoke and thank the fathers for being just that – Dad.

For this day I would like to share a personal memory/story that just happened with my father that made me laugh and one I will never forget.

For this holiday my father, Lorenzo, always takes them time to fly to Texas to hang out with his dad, have a few drinks, cigars and BBQ. He always fly’s back in time to end the evening at his home with me, my son Asher, and all of my friends growing up who also thought of him as a father.

This time around my dad asked me to show up to his house a few days earlier (while he was still in Texas) because he was expecting a “very important” package that I needed to pick up. Intrigued, I pressed him for some more details of this “important” package and what he was expecting to receive. He explained that since he didn’t live near a cigar lounge he had to order some cigars online and wanted to make sure they weren’t sitting outside. Dad also said it would be nice to come home to some of his favorite cigars that have already rested in his humidor so he can smoke them with us on Father’s Day (we have a big BBQ). At this point I agreed I would pick up the cigars, make sure they were resting in the humidor and he would be able to smoke one as soon as the grill fired up on Sunday.

I arrived to his house on Thursday to make sure the humidor was at perfect condition when the doorbell rang. It was his cigar package. Once I opened up this medium sized box of about 40 cigars I could only laugh and wonder if he wasn’t sending me or teaching me yet another lesson. You see the cigars he ordered, the ones he NEEDED to have, the ones that were VERY important to him, the ones I HAD to come in early and prepare for him were Gran Habano 3 SLS Torpedos.

I thank my father for supporting the retailers who support us at Gran Habano – but I think I get what you’re trying to say Dad. Thanks for yet another unspoken message.

Before we begin, allow us to introduce you (via his own profile) to our reviewer: “Daniel Temos (a.k.a. Dalamscius) is an IT Professional from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He enjoys cigars, scuba diving, hockey, fishing, nature and anything that challenges his mind. If he’s not sitting on his big comfy couch or at work you can usually find him in a boat on top of the water or 100ft under the water enjoying a dive. He is engaged to a wonderful Fiance and looking forward to his wedding. And make sure to follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/Dalamscius”

CasasFumando.com (Dalamscius in this instance) does a great job of describing and documenting the cigars they review. In this review they were gracious enough to post some great pictures of a crazy looking (but strong and white) ash.

Here is part of the final thoughts directly from the website: “It offered a full bodied smoke with lots of flavor and spice to it. The variety of vitolas available will also satisfy any cigar enthusiast allowing them to choose their favorite. It surprised me that such a full bodied and inexpensive smoke had no harshness right down to the nub, even after re-lighting. The length of the burn time was also quite good for this vitola, coming in at 1.5 hours. The name might be a little misleading, I don’t get 1.5 hour lunch breaks!”

So go check out the website, read their review, and pick up a Lunch Break Corojo #5.

So exactly did Josh have to say? Well you’re going to have to go to his website and read for yourself. But we would be more than happy to give you just a little segment from his very detailed writeup.

“If you like a well made maduro, dense, medium to heavy smoke, with rich robust flavors then hopefully you won’t have to wait long. As for me I am sad that I just smoked my last one, but rest assured that once these hit the market a new review will follow.  It is hard for me to rate this cigar as part of my rating depends on pricing and since this is not a finished product changes could be made which impact the final rating. Though right now I would judge this cigar between “Good” and “Excellent”.”

Well Josh, and everyone else who was curious, the Gran Habano Azteca will retail in the $6.20-7.20 price range depending on the size.  So my question to you – Does that help earn the “Excellent” rating?

Gran Habano / G.A.R Cigars was one of the event sponsors which meant we were able to send one of our very own to participate. So who stepped up the plate to try to bring home the gold? Well the one, the only, the great (Hey, he is going to read this) – George A. Rico.

After months of some hardcore training, statistics memorizing and general practice George was ready to hit the tables. I guess sometimes, despite the preparation – the cards just don’t fall in your favor. Mr. Rico ended the tournament in 107^th place. But don’t worry, next year Gran Habano / G.A.R Cigars will be sending more people to the tournament in hopes of taking home that 1^st place prize!

We would like to thank Smoke Inn for putting on a great tournament and allowing Gran Habano / G.A.R Cigars to be one of the sponsors.

And guess what? You speak, we listen. George and Guillermo went straight back to the factory and made some changes to our upcoming Azteca cigar. Fresh off the rolling table we sent the newest sample back out to the Panel and Ben was the first to make a video and post his thoughts on our changes (I don’t think Ben ever sleeps).

It appears that we have made the right changes and are just about ready to bring a great cigar to the community. So watch the video and listen to Ben fall in love with the Azteca!

Without further rambling from me, here is the video that was posted on NiceTightAsh.com:

And remember that you can also be on one of our tasting panels by being randomly selected from our E-mail list! Sign up today.

For a new feature we have integrated our Twitter and Facebook page that will allow us to communicate more directly. Please feel free to follow us, join us, and participate in any of the conversations. We want to hear from you!
The “Where To Buy” section has been updated with a large number of a great retailers across the country. If you are a retailer and we don’t have you listed, or you would like to help make our map as accurate as possible, please contact us so we can update this interactive section.

Our email list is still easy to join and you can see this on just about every column of every page. Don’t forget that we randomly select people from the list to participate in our testing of blends and get updates we may not list on the website.

Please feel free to browse through the site and send us any suggestions, feedback or comments you may have!