On Wednesday, September 18th, FineTobaccoNYC and the Carnegie Club teamed up to present another edition of Straight Up & Toasted. The event featured cigars from Espinosa Cigars and Moya Ruiz Cigars, as well as a special selection of bourbon and rye from Bulleit Whiskey Co.
The evening event, open to the public, started at 8:00pm. Around the same time, the Stan Rubin Quartet livened up the atmosphere with a selection of new and old jazz numbers. Approximately 150 attended the event and enjoyed cigars, whiskey, live music, and special item raffles throughout the evening.
Guests also shared the event with friends online via social media using the hashtag #CarnegieClub. Below is a selection of social media stories generated during the event.
Up for review today is the Perdomo Champagne Noir. As a few have noticed on Instagram, I’ve been on a bit of a Perdomo kick for the past two weeks or so. What can I say? For the money, Perdomo is hard to beat. This stick features many of the same tobaccoes found in the Champagne 10th Anniversary, but with a unique, bourbon-aged Cuban seed maduro wrapper.
Flawless construction. Perfect draw every time, much like my experience with Rocky Patel cigars. The wrapper is a dark chocolate brown with lots of tooth. Minimal veins and a light oil sheen. The gold and black band pairs very nicely with the color of the wrapper. Off of the foot I get a whiff of cocoa, earth, granola, and a bit of spice.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
This cigar starts off with medium body smoke. I’d characterize the texture as somewhat earthy. Off the bat I pick up notes of sweet chocolate, a bit of white pepper, and a bit of a cherry note. About an inch in, the chocolate, cherry, and white pepper notes are dominating, very rich and pleasant. I’m also noticing though that burn issues are going to be a problem as well (see pictures).
Moving through the second third is more of the same profile. I’m glad that I have a bottle of water with me because as rich as this cigar is, it really stimulates salivation a lot, so be sure to have a drink with you for this cigar.
The final third is again more of the same and it ends how it began, which is a bit disappointing considering the profile is so enjoyable. I like to be surprised!
Conclusion
The Champagne Noir from Perdomo is an excellent cigar but it lacks the depth and dynamism that makes a top-tier cigar. I’d certainly keep a few of these in my humidor, but it isn’t a box purchase like the original 10th Anniversary Champagne.
Perdomo is, strangely to me, a brand that I don’t see smoked as often as I’d suspect. I’ve written before on how amazing Perdomo cigars are in terms of quality and value, and I see it proven over and over again. The Perdomo Champagne 10th Anniversary is a great example of this. This stick may strike some as just another Connecticut wrapper cigar among many. Those who smoke the Champagne series know better.
As you’ll see in the review below, the Champagne 10th Anniversary is a truly amazing smoke with surprises around every corner. It’s also a great value at around $7.50 a stick.
The Connecticut wrapper is silky and is complemented well with the orange, gold, and black band. Aesthetically, very well done. Almost zero visible veins on the cigar with salt and pepper ash. On average, the draw is regular to loose and the burn is near perfect.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
Off the foot I notice a few notes including nuts, some coffee, and a slight grassiness. The first few puffs dispel any suspicion that this is a normal mild-medium smoke. The cigar produces volumes of thick, very robust smoke. Flavors include black pepper, cream, roasted nuts, and a ton of spice on the retrohale. This is a full-flavored, medium bodied smoke right from the get go.
About an inch in, I’ve noticed the flavors bouncing back and forth between a nice creamy profile to nutty and then off to heavy on the black pepper. The reviewers at Stogies On The Rocks noticed this as well. As you can see in the pictures, the burn remained sharp and straight throughout the smoke.
Into the second third, I notice the body drawing down a bit, with black pepper taking backseat to a nice creamy nuttiness. There’s also a nice sweet grassiness on the nose.
During the final third, the pendulum between the black pepper, nuts, cream, and even a slight cocoa note starts up again, which is fine by me because it keeps the smoke very entertaining and enjoyable. The smoke does heat up a little bit, but it doesn’t stop me from smoking this stick all the way down to the nub.
Conclusion
The Perdomo Champagne is a must smoke. Buy five. Or a box.
To many small business owners, social media is an attractive but baffling marketing tool. They know social media could drive interest and sales, but might not know how to expand their strategy beyond just posting on common networks. Retail companies, especially those in the luxury and niche markets, can profit greatly from the smart use of image-based platforms like Instagram. But many small business owners are using Instagram in all the wrong ways: posting blurry or irrelevant photos, ignoring fans, or being too fearful to openly encourage sales. So the question becomes, “How do I sell items on Instagram?”
If you want to build a profitable Instagram presence for your small business, here are 5 basics you have to keep in mind:
1. Be an expert
No posting pictures of what you ate for breakfast or the cool cloud formation outside. Stick to taking creative pictures of your product, behind-the-scenes shots of production, or unique ways people are using your items. Enthusiasts and potential customers follow experts with focused, quality content.
2. Post frequently
There is an inverse relationship between the amount of time that elapses between your posts and the strength of your relationship with fans. Post at least once a day to keep your audience engaged.
3. Respond
Effective marketing and making sales requires relationships! If someone comments, be sure to comment back. Friendliness and personal connection, more than anything, is what will turn your fans into customers.
4. Initiate
Use relevant hash tags to find users who are interested in your niche (i.e. for a boutique fashion co., #fashion #dailylook #mensfashion #womensfashion are major – for cigars you’d look at #cigar #cigars #cigaraficionado, etc). Try to like at least 20-30 photos a day from a few of the relevant tags. Why? Each like drops a notification from your brand on a users’ phone. Try it and watch your follower count grow much faster.
5. Make the ask
Some social media managers would tell you to stick to the “soft sell.” This is bad advice. A hard ask can be effective and even flattering to a user, provided there is a pre-existing relationship. Once you have built a large, enaged audience and are getting between 50-200 likes per photo, start dropping selling language in every fourth or fifth photo. The key is to be creative! One highly successful strategy is to make product recommendations to your most engaged fans by using the @ mention function. Who wouldn’t like a personalized recommendation from an expert?
Now let’s make it concrete. Here are some examples of Instagram done right.
Drew Estate
These guys do a fantastic job creating a solid Instagram community that has very high interaction rates and actively asks to buy:
Ash Fine Cigars
Ash Fine Cigars is a cigar shop in Hoboken I did some consulting work with last year. We had a lot of success a) posting every day, and b) making recommendations to our customers.
Rogue Ales
Rogue Ales is based in Oregon (my home state) and has something of a cult following. Their attention to their community has created a very engaged audience that loves to fawn over their products.
The 5 basics outlined above work with any company that is selling an attractive product and can be used in industries from cigars and spirits to fashion and even auto.
Do you have a winning method for making sales on platforms like Instagram? Tell us about it in the comments below! You can also check out a few my other guides to social media for small and mid-sized businesses:
El Cedro is a new brand with a lot of passion and a lot to say. Headed by Anwar Elboustani, the brand recently launched. I met Anwar at one of our events in July at the Carnegie Club, and was very excited to try his new product. As you’ll see in the review below, Anwar’s initial offering, produced at the Kelner Boutique Factory, sets a really high bar for an initial offering. I smoked four El Cedro cigars for this review and was impressed by each one.
Appearance & Construction This El Cedro cigar is a beautiful medium-brown color that is complimented very well by the white and gold band. The presentation is spot on and attractive. Construction wise, I can say that after smoking four of these sticks, the draw and smoke production are consistently great. The wrapper has a few veins and slight tooth. Throughout the smoke I did notice some burn issues, but they corrected themselves after ten minutes or so.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristic
Off the foot, I notice a lot of grass, cedar, and hay notes. Very pleasant. On lighting, I get a really nice opening bouquet of dry wood (seriously, like straight from a Home Depot wood supply), sweet coffee, and nuts. One of the immediately impressive qualities of the El Cedro is that though the notes are pretty robust, the texture of the smoke is very light and smooth.
About half an inch in, the body backs down a bit to a mild-medium and a nice cream note emerges. This stays constant for about the next half hour or so, with a nice white pepper note fading in and out. It’s easy to tell that the Kelner Boutique Factory was involved in the creation of this cigar. It has a definite Davidoff feel to it, which I love. The flavors are perfectly balanced and they deliver a lot of nuance.
By about half way, I’m picking up a lot more white pepper, especially on the retrohale. A nice change of pace.
In the final third, I’m still picking up the dominant cedar note with some sweet cream and white pepper on the retrohale. I’m totally sold. This cigar is a morning, afternoon, and evening smoke which pairs really well with coffee.
Conclusion El Cedro nailed its initial release. This cigar has an incredible profile, great aroma, an enjoyable texture and a great price at around $7 per cigar. I’m really looking forward to any new releases that Anwar has planned, and I highly recommend smoking this cigar.
