Tag Archives: Alec Bradley

News: STG Announces Marketing Team Roles for Alec Bradley Brands

I don’t know the Bradley boys, but I’ve known Jon Lipson since he was our local LFD rep, which was quite a while ago.  Congratulations to all!  I hope they don’t have to move to Richmond!

Scandinavian Tobacco Group(STG) announces today that the company has appointed the former Alec Bradley marketing team with new positions in the STG North American Branded marketing organization.

 

Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson will report to Christopher Tarr, vice president of marketing of STG’s Branded and Rest of World division.

 

 

Christopher Tarr said,I am excited to welcome Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson to our marketing organization. With their individual talents and combined experience in the handmade cigar category, I am confident that we will bring the Alec Bradley brands to their full potential, both in the US and globally.”

 

Alan Rubin, consultant to STG noted, I’m extremely proud that Alec, Bradley and Jonathan have the opportunity to work alongside the talented team at STG and that they will continue to play important roles in growing the Alec Bradley brand.”

 

Alec Rubin has joined the STG marketing team as brand manager, strategic partnerships and will focus on developing relationships for Alec Bradley brands among influential, lifestyle brandsoutside the premium cigar category. Prior to joining STG, Alecbegan working for the Alec Bradley cigar business in 2014 as a brand strategist, and in July 2020 was promoted to director of business development. During his tenure at Alec Bradley, he played pivotal roles in building the brand’s blend book and deepening the connection between the Alec Bradley brands and the American whiskey space.

 

In his new position as Brand Ambassador at STG, Bradley Rubin will continue to guide the creative direction, branding and social media initiatives of the Alec Bradley cigar brands and will serve as the face of the brand at top tier events in and outside of the handmade cigar category. Bradley joined the Alec Bradley cigar business in 2017 and was responsible for developing the brand’s social media presence while contributing to the branding and packaging of leading releases from the company.

 

Jonathan Lipson has been appointed to the role of senior brand manager at STG. In his new position, he will continue to steer marketing, product development and consumer engagement for the Alec Bradley cigar brands. Jonathan joined Alec Bradley in 2012 as tri-state regional territory manager and in 2016 was appointed director of sales and marketing, the role he held when the company was acquired by STG in March, 2023.

 

Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson will continue to reside in Florida, working remotely for STG.

 

About Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is a world-leading manufacturer of handmade and machine-rolled cigars with an annual production of more than four billion cigars. The Group holds market-leading positions in several categories and its products are sold in more than 100 markets. Scandinavian Tobacco Group is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and employs approximately 10,000 people globally. The Group is also the largest internet and catalog retailer of cigars and related accessories in the US. For more information visit www.st-group.com.

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News: STG Acquiring Alec Bradley Cigars

I didn’t see this coming, but if the amount of money I’ve seen is right, why wouldn’t Alan Rubin sell?  I’ll be curious to see whether Alec and Bradley stay on for a little while, it wouldn’t surprise me it that was part of the deal. Or…is the Alec and Bradley brand separate? 

 

SCANDINAVIAN TOBACCO GROUP TO ACQUIRE ALEC BRADLEY CIGAR BUSINESS

 

Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) announces today that the company has agreed to acquire the Alec Bradley cigar business.

 

The transaction is expected to close on or about February 28, 2023.

 

Founded by Alan Rubin in 1996, the Alec Bradley cigar business is a leading player in the premium cigar space. The brand stands for critically-acclaimed cigars and the portfolio includes Prensado, Kintsugi, Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf, Fine and Rare, Black Market and other brands.

 

Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s most recent acquisition was of the Room101 brand in June 2022. The company actively seeks opportunities to expand its strong portfolio with the aim to become the undisputed global and sustainable leader in cigars.

 

About Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is a world-leading manufacturer of handmade and machine-rolled cigars with an annual production of more than four billion cigars. The Group holds market-leading positions in several categories and its products are sold in more than 100 markets. Scandinavian Tobacco Group is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and employs approximately 10,000 people globally. The Group is also the largest internet and catalog retailer of cigars and related accessories in the US. For more information visit www.st-group.com.

 

 

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Happy New Year, Winner Announcement and a Cigar or Two

It seems that 2022 is in the books, and it’s 2023 now.  Still no flying cars, but we do carry the entirety of human knowledge in our pockets, at the expense of education and common sense! I am blessed with a beautiful family and enough cigars to get me through for a while, so I’m not complaining. I’ve had worse years than 2022.  I managed to fly 4 times, a record for me. Twice to trade shows in Las Vegas, once to Tampa and a personal vacation to Puerto Rico.  We also went to a Barnsmoker, a Red Meatlovers Club dinner on a friggin battleship, and a few shop events, although not as many of the latter as I’d like.  It was a good year. Hopefully ’23 is equally good!  I know I’ve slowed down a little on original content, I’m just not smoking the volume of new cigars that I used to. I’m finding as I get older I tend to want to smoke what I like!  Weird, huh?  I have no plans to give up though, after 13 years I’m invested.  I do have a prize to give away, so let’s get on to that!

 

I let this giveaway go on a week and a half, longer than usual, but it’s been a busy week or two!  You may recall the prize was a hefty pile of stuff from various venders, and undisclosed cigars from my humidor.  I’ll have fun packing up a bunch of my favorites to share with the winner.  I referred to Google’s random number generator and the number it spit our was 2, which corresponds to the second comment at 9:28pm on 12/21, which was by Tim McCabe.  Tim, please email me your info!  Tim is a long time reader, and I have to appreciate the patience and fortitude of the many folks who’ve been reading my nonsense over the years!  Thanks to everyone, I may be able to scrounge up some more goodies in the near future. 

 

Naturally, I smoked some good cigars over the last few days. Most notable was another of the Alec Bradley Fine and Rare series, this one dated 2017. The one I smoked last week I’m told was from the tenth anniversary set, and I assume this one is from the same.  My Secret Santa, Mitch, was very generous and shared these with me.  Aside, he managed to send a bunch of cigars I’d never smoked before!  No small feat.  Another aside, and Kevin Shahan witnessed this, while in Tampa I met a gentleman, we’ll call him Aaron, who was shocked when he attempted to gift me a cigar he was sure I’d not had before, a pre-release Nica Rustica with actual Rustica leaf in the blend, and I had smoked that back in 2013 in Nicaragua.  I digress.  The ALec Bradley Fine and Rare 2017 (BR12-13) is a 6″ x 52 torpedo, or maybe 109, shaped cigar.  It has mostly Honduran components, with some Nicaraguan in the filler.  It started off with a little bit of a bite, some acidity, perhaps, but that quickly became what I call spicey. It was, overall, a very good cigar, with some nice, medium flavors, and I think there was a cinnamon or baking spice flavor that came and went.  Thank you, Mitch, for the opportunity to try these! 

 

Yesterday we met friends at what might be the only White Castle in PA for lunch, and I would have stopped in to New Tobacco Village, in Whitehall, PA, but, you know…White Castle…When I got home after an hour drive and got things squared away, I sat down to watch hockey with what might be my favorite cigar of 2022, the Diamond Crown Black Diamond. It gives the Muestra de Saka The Bewitched a run, if I had smoked more of those it would have been my number one for the year.  As it stands, I’m going with the Black Diamond, so good!  I ended 2022 with a Partagas Serie D No. 6 which I had picked up at the Rome Duty Free several years ago, just a little guy, but tasty. So let’s just say that the New Diamond Crown Black Diamond Emerald is my favorite cigar of 2022! Thanks to J.C.Newman for making this year memorable for me! 

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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Merry Christmas and a Couple of Cigars

This is going to be a short one, I mean, I have family stuff to do today, and I assume many of you do also.  Not many people are going to have time to read a long post!  So Happy Holidays to everyone!  Go back to my last post and enter the contest! Maybe you’ll win some great stuff!

 

We’re enjoying a cold snap here, Friday started out a balmy 50 and dropped to the teens by evening. I got my cigar in early, my heaters can’t keep up with this bitter cold.  I chose from a selection sent to me by my secret Santa this year, an Alec Bradley 2014 Fine and Rare.  It was my first time smoking a Fine and Rare, I may smoke another Fine and Rare later if time and temps allow.  This was a special smoke, a 7″ x 54 perfecto-ish cigar. I’ve had the same shape in a tubed Tempest ,I think.  It didn’t seem like it was that big, but it smoked for a good two hours.  When I say “good”, I mean really good! I seem to recall the Raices Cubanas factory having some quality issues around this time, which were not apparent in this cigar, it was perfectly built.  I believe the blend is Honduran and Nicaraguan with a Honduran wrapper. I also seem to remember some ridiculous number of varietals in the blend on these. Seven? Anyway, this was a really delicious cigar, pretty nunced and refined, but full of flavor.  It was bready, with some spice, but not much. It certainly was a special cigar befitting the season.  TY MS for these! I look forward to future Fine and Rare’s.

 

Yesterday I stopped by Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA for a smoke or two.  I intended to just pick one or two nice cigars out to smoke, but I started looking through the discount bin (buy 3, get one free) and found some gems, some CyB Corona Reals, Cornelius and Anthony Meridian Corona Gordas, Jaxx LTs (forerunner of the La Sirena LT) and even an Emilio AF2 (AJ Fernandez).  So after I smoked a gifted Montecristo Epic, I lit up one of the CyBs I bought and it was delicious.  These had a pretty short life, coming out sometime around 2013 when José Blanco (the B) worked at Joya de Nicaragua with Dr. Alejandro Cuenca (the C).  It was originally called Cuenca y Blanco until someone pulled a trademark dispute. The cigar was really good, and I think I found all that he had in the bins. The cigar has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Dominican Piloto binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Peru.  It’s woody and sweet with some spice, the spice probably from that Peruvian leaf.  Good stuff!  Goose’s is a great spot with a large selection and comfortable lounge.  I’d like to get there more than I do! 

 

That’s all for today, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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Tatuaje Tuxtla, Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf and CAO BX3 Cigars

I finally got around to trying the three cigars I’ve been looking forward to smoking this week.  I picked up a few of these locally, and will definitely be revisiting these soon. It’s not often I get three winners in a row like this.  I started with the one I was most interested in smoking, the Tatuaje Tuxtla Avion 13. They had all three sizes, and I had a choice between picking up a couple of each size, or trying three different cigars and I chose the later. I would have said that I made the wrong choice, but I have no regrets.  The Avion 13 size is a perfecto shape, 6 7/8″ x 52.  It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  I’ve heard good things about this cigar, Pete talks about it in the video I did with him at the PCA show (which is my second most watched video on Youtube now). I’ve smoked, and enjoyed, an Avion before, but now I’m not sure which one it was, I think it might have been the 2012 version. Sometimes I expect the Mexican wrapper to overpower the blend of a cigar.  This cigar had incredible flavors, sure it had the espresso and cocoa I expected, but they were refined, slightly different.  It’s a beautiful cigar, and I see myself picking up the T110 and 7th sizes to see how they stack up. The Avion size was pretty amazing though.  

 

Another cigar I found that was on my wishlist was the Alec Bradley Double Broadleaf from their Experimental Series. I got the Gran Corona size, which is 7″ x 46, a neat size. This has a Connecticut seed Broadleaf wrapper and binder, which are grown in Honduras. I suppose this answers questions about how in a world of Broadleaf shortages, they managed to make a double Broadleaf.  I liked the size of this cigar, but I’m really curious how this smokes in a larger ring.  They had Robustos and Gordos, looks like there’s more cigars I have to get!  If you like Broadleaf, I think you’ll love this cigar.  It’s rich with sweet cocoa and coffee, dark fruit, and some spice. I can’t help but think what I perceived as spice may have been the sharpness that a narrower ring might have from burning hotter, I’ll let you know when I try different sizes, which I expect to be smoother.  Winner number two this week.  Good smoke. 

 

This last one had some controversy surrounding it. I understand having to protect one’s trademark, but it’s really hard for me to confuse the band on the CAO BX3 with the Opus X.  Of course, if Fuente let this one go, someone else might take it further until they actually did make a band that could be confused. Both Fuente and Pete Johnson are quite good at protecting their marques.  That being said, nobody is picking up a BX3 and saying “is this an Opus X?”. The BX3 has three Brazilian tobaccos in the blend, one of which is the dark, oily Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper.  It also has an Arapiraca binder and Brazilian, Honduran, Mexican and Nicaraguan fillers. When I lit this up I didn’t think I was going to like it. It had a bitterness that was off putting, but eventually became quite enjoyable. I got the 5″ x 52 Robusto, which I don’t generally buy anymore, but it must have been the only size they had.  This is loaded with flavor, and after the initial shock, it turned into a very satisfying cigar. It was like good, black coffee, with some earthiness. It certainly wasn’t my favorite of the three mentioned here, but it was quite enjoyable, and different from, say, the Brazilia or any of the Basin series.  

 

Friday I posted about a contest, so far everyone who’s entered will be a winner unless things pick up. These are pretty cool prizes, and a decent charity, so please have a look and get in on the action.  Go back one post, or click HERE to get details!  that’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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