Brand evangelist, digital marketer, cigar and spirits expert specializing in consumer tasting and educational events. Matthias made the long trek from his hometown of Portland, Oregon to New York City in 2007, and in nine years has hosted more than 120 events and helped promote and launch dozens of cigar and whiskey brands in the U.S. In 2016, he joined the Cigar Journal Tasting Panel, blind-reviewing pre and new release cigars.
Our friends at the Carnegie Club have just announced that this Thursday (November 8th), the club will be hosting Bushmills whiskey and Camacho Corojo cigars. What’s more, the event is free and open to the public. The event starts at 8:00pm, and members of FineTobaccoNYC will be there representing. The Carnegie Club has a long history of hosting quality events, so we hope to see you there!
Well, Hurricane Sandy turned out to be a whopper of a storm. It goes without saying that anything pertaining to cigars has been basically blacked out since Hurricane Sandy hit a few nights ago. Now, I sit at a Starbucks, with my first internet access for 5 days.
Before the storm hit, I made the trek out to my girlfriend’s place in New Jersey where she lives alone to take care of her. I wasn’t prepared for all of the downed trees, the power outages that are still crippling crucial services, and the lack of any cellular or internet access since Monday. Last night, we drove to Jersey City, and the darkness enveloping Hoboken, Jersey City, and the Financial District was truly eerie. See below:
But quickly before my battery dies here at Starbucks, I want to say on behalf of Kelvin, David, Tim, James, and Ronnie, we hope all of you stay safe, get the supplies you need, and spend your time with your families. We also encourage all of those who have power, hot water, and internet access to do what they can to help others. Being without power and internet access for five days (and perhaps another 11 according to Con Ed) is, believe me, a terrible experience.
In any case, we’ll be posting via our Facebook page and updating you all. We’re also going to be putting together a cigar event celebrating the return of the city – but not until we have all done our part to secure the safety of our loved ones and those around us. Also, we send our regards to all cigar groups and cigar lounges in the city.
Feel free to tweet us @finetobacconyc, and drop a comment letting us know how you are doing if you are in the NY/NJ area.
October 29, 2012 (London) — To mark the first-ever World Tobacco Growers’ Day (#WTGD) today, tobacco farmers across the globe are taking part in dozens of events to highlight the disastrous impact World Health Organisation proposals will have on their livelihoods if passed by parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in just two weeks’ time.
“We’re celebrating the benefits our farms bring to our communities and asking our leaders to stand with us, to hear our voices, and to give us the opportunity to work together to protect our way of life,” said Antonio Abrunhosa, chief executive officer of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA). Abrunhosa is leading the events worldwide and plans to carry the growers’ message to the FCTC’s Fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) in Seoul, Korea next month.
WTGD begins an annual effort to bring together the world’s 30 million tobacco growers. Events in dozens of countries across four continents today demonstrate the social and economic contribution farmers make to their communities, to remember the heritage of this sector and to educate the public about the issues impacting their livelihoods.
The 2012 WTGD events focus on the threat currently facing the world’s tobacco farmers from the FCTC. At COP5 it will vote on recommendations to:
Artificially limit or reduce the land to cultivate and deny farmers the right to grow tobacco
Regulate the seasons of the year in which tobacco farming is allowed
Ban tobacco famers from working with their clients to improve crops yields, health and safety conditions and the crops environmental impacts to improve practices, health and safety conditions, prevent labor abuses, and minimize environmental impact
Dismantle the bodies relating tobacco farmers with their governments
Introduce mandatory “rehabilitation programs” that would force growers into other crops, regardless of the economic viability of that crop
“We are also asking governments to join us today and step back from the WHO abyss and protect, not penalise, poor tobacco farmers,” Abrunhosa said. He pointed out that these recommendations run contrary to the original intent of the FCTC ’ s treaty, which was to provide “technical and financial assistance to aid the economic transition of tobacco growers and workers“ if and when a decline in tobacco consumption results in lower demand for the crop.
“These draconian proposals are putting tobacco farmers under unprecedented attack from bureaucrats who are looking to artificially reduce the supply of tobacco without providing growers any viable alternatives to support their families,” said Abrunhosa. ”Contrary to FCTC’s claims, not a single smoker will stop smoking because of these proposals. All they will do is spread misery among farmers and their families in some of the least developed countries in the world. We are asking the FCTC to respect its own principles and accept growers’ knowledge and opinion on issues that impact their livelihoods.”
Every now and again as I’m surfing the web I come across some unique video content that deserves shared. I’ve shared a few other videos in the past, and this video, produced by The Street is certainly up to snuff. It’s a bit dated (January 2012), but it still gives a good idea of what Nat Sherman is like. In front of the camera is Nat Sherman figurehead Michael Herklots.
BUSHMILLS IRISH WHISKEY® PARTNERS WITH LOWDEN® TO CREATE HANDCRAFTED WHISKEY BARREL OAK GUITARS
Bushmills Village: Bushmills Irish Whiskey, which has been handcrafted on the North Coast of Ireland for centuries, has partnered with world famous luthier, George Lowden, to create three special-edition guitars, handmade from barrel-oak used in the whiskey making process.
Bushmills Irish Whiskey and George Lowden Guitars are both known and loved around the world. Based in Northern Ireland, George and his team have handmade guitars for some of most famous names in the music, including Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and The Edge.
The handmade barrel oak guitars were presented to singer-songwriter Foy Vance and other artists as a thank-you for their participation in Bushmills Live, the handcrafted whiskey and music festival which took place at the Old Bushmills Distillery on 20th and 21st June 2012.
Created by George Lowden and his team of master craftsmen at his workshop in Downpatrick, County Down, the guitar-making process took more than three months and presented a series of unique technical challenges.
The oak that the guitars were made from was from former Oloroso sherry casks, used in the making of Bushmills Black Bush, Bushmills 16 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey and Bushmills 21 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey.
The nature and curve of the whiskey barrel oak meant that each stave of wood had to be carefully sanded by hand to the necessary thickness and required shape. Each stave was then painstakingly glued together to create panels that retained the contours of the original whiskey barrel.
Those panels rested in the workshop for several weeks as the wood bound together, before they were hand-cut by George Lowden to guitar templates he has been using for almost 40 years.
Then, using hand-tools such as Japanese chisels, planes and knives, the team at Lowden assembled the guitars, incorporating the whiskey barrel oak into traditional Lowden ‘F’ and ‘O’ body designs.
The result is three guitars unlike any others ever made. With a distinct sound and even more distinct look, they are as much works of art as they are instruments.
Master Distiller at the Old Bushmills Distillery, Colum Egan, said: “To see barrels that have housed our whiskey being used in this way is remarkable. Their creation celebrates the handcrafted qualities at the heart of both Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Lowden Guitars and I want to thank George and his team for making them. Like our whiskey they weren’t made for the cupboard and it is great to see some world class musicians putting them to good use. The guitars were the perfect way to thank the musicians who performed at Bushmills Live.”
George Lowden said: “Making any guitar by hand is highly challenging but these guitars presented a few more issues than most. It was an enormous privilege to work with such special wood and it took me and my team a considerable amount of time to create them. However, what we have managed to do is to create something quite special. We enjoyed working in partnership with Bushmills on the project and were delighted that the musicians who received the guitars were so pleased with them.”
To find out more about Bushmills Irish Whiskey or to see a gallery of images from the making of the Lowden Guitars from Bushmills barrel oak, log on to facebook.com/bushmills1608