Paris Smokeasy – Cigar of the month
After a great trip to the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) trade show in Las Vegas, the Flynn’s and I came back with some fun stories and even bigger announcements about the humidor at Rigby’s. If you have not heard or seen the new additions or what is soon to be coming, you should stop by and see for yourself. But this article is about July’s hot Cigar Night. Texas – July – Hot – but y’all already knew that! What you did not know was how hot our cigar rated for this night’s event.
The last time we smoked and rated a Kristoff was in August of 2021. That cigar was the Kristoff Vengeance Perfecto in a 6 ½” x 60-gauge. It was our #2 Cigar of the Year (COY) for 2021 with a 94/100 Redneck Ratin. The anticipation was high with fifty-five people present for this event. We welcomed Lewis George, who is the Southern Territory Account Executive at Kristoff Cigars. Lewis told us about the history and some noteworthy events that had happened at Kristoff recently.
Kristoff was started by Glen Case and named after his son Christopher. Glen spent 18 years in the financial industry before leaving. His wife Teri and his father-in-law had been cigar brokers, so he joined them. After a few years, he decided in 2004 to start his own cigar company. The first cigars they made were Exclusive Cigars. In 2005 they launched their first labeled Kristoff, the Criollo, followed shortly thereafter with the Maduro. Two of their newer releases have close-to-home stories behind them for Glen. About 3 ½ years ago Glen had a motorcycle accident in Oklahoma and crashed into a Guardrail. He spent 8 days in the hospital, time in a wheelchair, and a lot of physical therapy to get back to normal. The Kristoff Guardrail has a Zimbabwe filler, which you don’t see often, and the band has a guardian angel theme. The Tres Compadres is a Nicaraguan Puro that pays tribute to his lifelong friend Chuck Finch and his friend and mentor Rolando Villamil who both passed away within 6 months of each other. Rolando was the man that got him in a factory in the Dominican Republic when he first started making cigars back in 2004. His two dear friends’ initials are on the box and the label with his initials to always remember the “Three Amigos.”
On their website under the About Us tab, they state “Our focus is on quality, consistency, and availability. We use only the highest quality double and triple fermented premium tobaccos from around the world, which are artfully blended to satisfy the palate of the most discriminating cigar aficionado.” Having personally bought several different boxes of Kristoff’s for my humidor at home, I could not agree more with this statement. A quick look at Cigar Aficionado resulted in thirty-six Kristoff’s with an 87 or higher rating, another 13 with a 90 or higher rating, and the 2012 #11 of the Top 25, the Kristoff Corojo Limitada Torpedo with a 93 rating. They have 21 different blends under the Kristoff label.
For July we smoked the Kristoff Cameroon Robusto in a 5 ½” x 54-gauge. It is a medium-full bodied cigar that has a Seven Year aged African Cameroon Wrapper over a Dominican Habano Wrapper, and both Nicaraguan and Dominican Habano fillers. We ended the night with a whopping Redneck Ratin’ of 91/100 making it one of only two cigars to break into the ninety range since April of 2022. If you have not tried a Kristoff, you simply are missing out!
Our sponsor for the night was James Shanahan with Townsend Fox LLC. They are a General Contracting company that specializes in residential remodels, new construction, and outdoor living spaces. It is a Hero Owned business as James is a former Law Enforcement Officer.
Hosted by Rigby’s
Photo Credit: Rigby’s Humidor
#kristoffcigars