Tag Archives: Emilio

News: Grimalkin Seasonal Edition Announced

I guess the Grimalkin is now a scary Halloween release. I remember the original that was made at the My Father factory, although it was always a big secret.  I actually still have one or two of the old ones around, and I might have one of the first Oveja Negra Grimalkin releases too. I look forward to giving this one a shot, it looks really neat. 

 

Emilio Cigars is pleased to announce the release of the Grimalkin Seasonal Edition: Hand crafted in Esteli, Nicaragua at Fabrica Oveja Negra.

Grimalkin Seasonal is being released in time to enjoy for Halloween and fall festivities. “To celebrate one of my favorite times of year, Grimalkin seasonal is back. We changed things up a bit this time around. The blend of filler tobacco has stayed the same, but we did a dual wrapper, closed foot and a rabito cap. The Grimalkin has rich, intense flavors of dark fruit, herbal cedar notes and mild baking spice on the layered, complex finish,” said James Brown, of Black Label Trading Co. and Fabrica Oveja Negra.

 

Grimalkin Seasonal Limited Edition will be available in limited quantities at select retailers beginning this week.

 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Ecuador Maduro and Corojo dual wrapper

Binder: Nicaraguan Habano

Filler: Nicaragua

Robusto 5 x 50 (25 count)

MSRP $11.00

 

Emilio Cigars is a brand with old school roots and new school attitude. With an eclectic portfolio, Emilio is sure to have something for everyone.

For more information, visit our website featuring a comprehensive retailer map. www.OvejaNegraCigars.com..

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News: Emilio Cigars Audiophile Now Shipping

Emilio cigars has its roots with Gary Griffith and the Delaware Cigar/Cigarette City cigar store chain back around 2011.  It started with the Broadleaf AF1, made by A.J. Fernandez, and was named after an ancestor of the Zuccas who own the chain.  At one point the House of Emilio was a brokerage/distribution group that represented as many as nine brands, Black Label Trading Company among them. If you ever wanted to know how the Emilio brand ended up with Black Label, this is the circuitous route that it took. Now, how it ended up being associated with audio, I have no idea…

 

Emilio Cigars is now shipping the Limited-Edition AUDIOPHILE featured at this year’s PCA.

Emilio Cigars, a distinguished name in the world of premium cigars, is proud to announce the highly anticipated release of the Limited-Edition AUDIOPHILE. Expertly crafted in Esteli, Nicaragua at the renowned Fabrica Oveja Negra, AUDIOPHILE represents a pinnacle of artistry and flavor.

 

Master blender and owner of BLTC and Fabrica Oveja Negra, James Brown, stated, “Following its tremendous success in 2022, AUDIOPHILE returns with boldness, earthiness, and an enticing spice-forward profile. It represents a noteworthy step up in strength from the existing portfolio. I am genuinely thrilled about this release, particularly with the addition of two new vitolas this year.”

 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Ecuador Maduro

Binder: Ecuador Habano

Filler: Nicaragua

 

Robusto – 5×52 (20 count) MSRP $10.50

Toro – 6×50 (20 count) MSRP $11.00

Short Robusto – 4.25×54 (20 count) MSRP $10.25

 

Emilio Cigars is a brand with old school roots and new school attitude. With an eclectic portfolio, Emilio is sure to have something for everyone.

 

For more information, visit our website featuring a comprehensive retailer map. www.OvejaNegraCigars.com.
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Smoking Some Black Label Trading Co. Gordos

Friday evening I picked up a selection of Black Label Trading Company cigars in the 6″ x 60 size. I actually don’t mind the 6″ x 60 format, it’s not my go-to, but I don’t shy away from it. I think if it’s done right, buy the right maker, it works, and if it fits into the time I have, it’s perfect. This five-pack of cigars had been sitting in a display of samplers on the counter at Son’s for quite a while, and it intrigued me, so I sprung for it. I smoked four out of the five, the Lawless will have to wait for another time. I started with the Emilio Cavatina on a fresh palate. I never smoked the original Cavatina, although I smoked a lot of the other original Emilios, and still have a couple AF1 and 2, Grimalkin, etc. in the humidor that are going on ten years old. This Cavatina was a delicious cigar. It has an Ecuador Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, and Nicaraguan fillers. It had some nice cocoa and sweetness with a little spice. Thoroughly enjoyable. I’m certainly going to try other sizes.

 

Later in the evening I lit up the Last Rites. I’m not sure if I’ve smoked this line in the past or not, I know I’ve smoked the Viaticum, but that’s different, and this was the first time I’ve smoked anything from BLTC in 6 ring gauge. The Last Rites seems to have a similar wrapper to the Emilio, Ecuador Maduro, with a Honduran binder and a blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. As this was my second cigar of the evening, and I was doing some other things, it was hard to put too fine a point on tasting notes, but I never do anyway. It was a great cigar. Very full flavored and earthy, along with the coffee/cocoa flavors I like. Right up my alley. I could have squeezed three gordos into my 6 hour shift, but I really didn’t want to. I like to rest a little in between cigars. 

 

Saturday afternoon I went with the Royalty. This one has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Now, this cigar has a lighter wrapper than the others, not as light as a shade grown wrapper. The Royalty has a brighter flavor than the other cigars represented here. It still has the full flavors of coffee and spice,  but maybe with a little cream and sugar to take the edge off. I really enjoyed smoking this cigar on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. This is another cigar I’ll try in a toro or robusto. 

 

Last night I went back to the darker wrappers, and smoked the Salvation.  This 6″ x 60 has what they call an Ecuadoran Sungrown wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Ecuadoran Sungrown confuses me a little, because I thought the whole appeal of growing in Ecuador was the frequent cloud cover that replicates growing under cheesecloth, or shade, reducing the labor costs. This was another cigar that suits my palate well, it’s dark, rich and heavy on the espresso and spice. I may smoke the Lawless today, or I may put it away for another day, probably the latter, but I have some general observations about this little experiment of mine. First, like I said, I don’t have a problem with 6″ x 60s, and these didn’t seem to compromise any thing for flavor or construction. All burned perfectly and had a good draw. My go-to remains a Toro. I find a general consistency in a lot of the BLTC cigars, probably because my palate lacks the sophistication to pick up subtle differences, but I think a lot of their dark cigars taste very much the same to me. that being said, I really like that taste, so I’m very happy with everything I smoke with a BLTC or Black Works band, I just don’t have to worry too much about what I grab! Makes life a little easier for me I guess. Gives me something to work on, and since I have a broad range available to me I’ll work my way through. Great cigars, nice people, I like.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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News: Emilio Cigars Releases LJZ Limited Edition

Funny enough, last week when I went to the Black label event at Son’s, on a whim I wore an old Emilio Cigars polo that Gary Griffith had given me many years ago.  I never really had a good occasion to wear it where I wouldn’t be mistaken for a representative of the company. Anyway, I’m hoping Vince and Brian get these in at Son’s so I can give them a try! I’m going to go smoke another cigar from BLTC right now.


Emilio Cigars releases the Limited Edition LJZ; hand crafted in Esteli, Nicaragua at Fabrica Oveja Negra.This is the third release of the Emilio LJZ. For the 2021 vintage a new Lonsdale vitola has been added. The artwork and cigar blend for LJZ created by James Brown.

 

 

Mr. Brown, owner of BLTC and Fabrica Oveja Negra, stated, “This is a highly anticipated release for Emilio. LJZ received many high ratings last year and we are excited to get it back on the market. As with last year, we have combined a natural and a Sun Grown Habano wrapper. This blend has a lot of complexity with a little spice. Baking spice, cedar and cocoa are the prominent flavors in this well balanced, medium bodied cigar.”

 

LJZ is shipping to select retailers this month.

 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano and Sun Grown

Binder: Nicaraguan Habano

Filler: Nicaragua & Dominican

 

Robusto – 5×52 (20 count) MSRP $10.00 Toro – 6×50 (20 count) MSRP $11.00 Lonsdale – 6.5×42 (20 count) MSRP $10.50

 

Emilio Cigars is a brand with old school roots and new school attitude. With an eclectic portfolio, Emilio is sure to have something for everyone.For more information please visit Oveja Negra Brands website featuring a comprehensive retailer map. www.OvejaNegraCigars.com.

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News: Emilio To Release Limited Edition LJZ

I’m not sure if I should point this out or not, maybe it’s an innocent mistake. I’ll frame it as a bit of a history lesson. Gary Griffith created the Emilio brand while employed by the Zucca family, and named it after a Zucca family name in tribute to them allowing him to create the brand. So while it’s certainly accurate to say that Scott Zucca owns the Emilio brand, stating that he’s the founder is slightly off. Like I said, might not be wise of me to point his out, maybe they won’t send me the press releases any more, but Gary was always good to me, and I hate to see his legacy erased! Now, I have no doubt that this Emilio is awesome, as nearly everything from BLTC is! I just couldn’t let that go by without commenting!

 

Emilio Cigars releases the Limited Edition LJZ; hand crafted in Esteli, Nicaragua at Fabrica Oveja Negra. This is the second release of this line since the collaboration between Emilio Cigars and Black Label Trading Company (BLTC).

 

The artwork and cigar blend for LJZ were created by James Brown. Mr. Brown, owner of BLTC and Fabrica OvejaNegra, stated, “I’m very excited about this release. This year we changed it up a bit by making the cigar with two wrappers. We combined the light Habano from the previous release with a Sun Grown Habano. This tweak adds a lot of complexity and a little spice to the original blend. Baking spice, cedar and cocoa are the prominent flavors in this well balanced, medium bodied cigar. The artwork I created is a tribute to Scott Zucca’s roots. Scott is the founder of Emilio cigars and I wanted to create artwork that paid homage to his Italian heritage.”

 

LJZ is shipping to select retailers this month.

 

 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano and Sun Grown

Binder: Nicaraguan Habano

Filler: Nicaragua & Dominican

 

Robusto – 5×52 (20 count) MSRP $10.00

Toro – 6×50 (20 count) MSRP $11.00

 

Emilio Cigars is a brand with old school roots and new school attitude. With an eclectic portfolio, Emilio is sure to have something for everyone. For more information please visit Oveja Negra Brands website featuring a comprehensive retailer map. www.OvejaNegraCigars.com.

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