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Famous smoke service, California City, CA (2026)

06/02/2015

CAO Ci**rs

CAO Ci**rs – a staple of every cigar store, and famous for smokes like CAO Italia, CAO Brazilia and CAO Gold, has endured as one of the most popular ci**rs online. It’s also one of those cigar brands owing as much of its success to humble beginnings and hard work, as it does to a happy accident.

The hard work came from founder Cano Aret Ozgener, born in Moda - one of the nicer neighborhoods of Istanbul - in 1937. A Ping-Pong champion during his high school years in Turkey, Cano (pronounced “Jonno”) emigrated to America in 1961 and graduated from Columbia University as an engineering major. Cano enjoyed smoking ci**rs and pipes – specifically meerschaums, artfully carved in Ozgener’s native Turkey.

After graduating, Cano Ozgener worked as an engineer with DuPont; but his appreciation for a good pipe, coupled with his engineering prowess, got him to start tinkering with and modifying pipe stems during after-work hours in his basement in an effort to improve their performance. Cano sold a few of his modified pipes (in addition to some humidors he built) to some friends and local to***conists…which led to Ozgener creating some pipes of his own, and selling them on a small scale. After years as a boutique businessman, Cano decided in 1977 that he wanted to expand. He left his job at DuPont to form his own company, naming it after his initials: C.A.O. International, Inc.

In 1980, Cano decided he was ready to put CAO ci**rs on sale. That came to pass with the introduction of Casa de Manuel. That first CAO cigar didn’t last – a lack of consistency, along with a dying pre-boom market, doomed the smoke to the ashtray of history. Cano was able to fall back on his pipe and humidor business – that was, until the boom came calling. With the boom in full swing by 1995, Ozgener began to sell ci**rs again, this time a Honduran smoke made by Nestor Plasencia that was simply known as C.A.O.

The happy accident to which CAO Cigar owes its first success was actually borne out of a production problem on this original line of CAO ci**rs for sale. Cano launched a beautiful maduro, but it didn’t burn well – prompting him to recall nearly 150,000 sticks with potential burn issues. The recall, along with product shortages, forced the Ozgener family to look for an additional supplier. Help came by way of Tabacalera Tambor in Costa Rica, the same place where Bahia was being made. Tambor delivered to the Ozgeners a rich and spicy black maduro with a red band, and which name-checked the Cuban Partagas Serie D No. 4 as one if its biggest influences. It was this new maduro, and the rave CAO cigar reviews that followed, that put CAO ci**rs on the map.

Within 8 years, the company would grow its CAO cigar offering dramatically, giving anyone looking to buy CAO ci**rs online a bunch of new choices – including CAO Gold, CAO Brazilia, Criollo, Double Maduro (or MX2), as well as their L’Anniversaire series and CAO Flavours. And thanks to the help of some other manufacturers, CAO found new suppliers when Tabacalera Tambor ceased production for the company. Nick Perdomo began making the maduro blend as it rose in popularity; and not long after, gave Cano a cigar with a delicate Cameroon wrapper. The Toraño family partnered up by making C.A.O. Brazilias in Honduras, and La Aurora started creating the CAO Flavors ci**rs at their factory in the Dominican Republic.

The Ozgeners would make the decision in 2003 to take control of the production of CAO ci**rs – and in doing so, make the switch from marketer to manufacturer. Cano bought into two factories: one in Nicaragua, and one in Honduras. The shift allowed C.A.O. control of their to***co supply, as well as the opportunity to centralize its manufacturing – and brought production of its CAO maduro cigar from Tabacalera Perdomo to C.A.O. Fabricas de Tabacos in Estelí, Nicaragua. C.A.O.’s factory shared the space with the Toraño family’s factory; the arrangement afforded the Ozgeners and the Toraños the access and ability to buy great to***co together, and allowed for a close working relationship between the companies.

Fast forward to 2007: the CAO cigar brand grew internationally, as Henri Wintermans Ci**rs offered to buy CAO ci**rs from Ozgener. Based in Holland, Wintermans is a unit of Scandinavian To***co, one of the world's largest cigar makers at 1.3 billion sticks per year. CAO ci**rs were now being made in Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Three years later, the last remaining member of CAO’s founding family left the company when Scandinavian To***co Group and Swedish Match merged, causing the ownership group to relocate CAO’s corporate offices to Richmond, VA from Nashville.

Today, true to its roots in the Ozgener family creed of innovation in blending and in packaging, CAO Ci**rs production continues primarily in two locations: Honduras American Tabaco S.A. (HATSA) in Danlí, Honduras, home to C.A.O. Brazilia, Lx2, Mx2 and C.A.O. Italia, while La Traviata, La Traviata Maduro, C.A.O. Gold and C.A.O. Cx2 are produced in Estelí, Nicaragua at Scandinavian To***co Group Estelí.

06/02/2015

Alec Bradley Ci**rs

Alec Bradley ci**rs are to the smoking world as Rolex is to the word of timepieces. Both make a wide variety of items, but both have one thing in common: quality. Alec Bradley stogies are about as high class and scrumptious as you can find, all at a price that not only a prince, but a pauper can afford. Famous Smoke Shop and Alec Bradley have built a long standing relationship to help provide you with these ci**rs at damn good prices. The reason we keep good relations with them is simple. Aside from being awesome people in general, and pretty damn good at flip cup, they have developed a rich history in their short time on the market.

It all started in 1996 with Alan Rubin taking part of the proceeds of his father’s hardware import company to create Alec Bradley ci**rs, named after his two children (dawwww). It was at the Retail To***co Dealers of America trade show where he eventually found a small manufacturer in Honduras to make his first creation, but those crafty Honduran thieves took him for a ride. He paid them but barely received the ci**rs he asked for. Eventually he received some ci**rs, and the first Alec Bradley ci**rs ever banded, called Bogey’s Stogies, were meant to be sold at golf courses locally, but ended up failing miserably after only 2 years. Of course, with a cigar including bogey in the name, it’s easy to see why golfers wouldn’t want this bogus cigar.

Mind you, Alan was starting Alec Bradley ci**rs right at the tail end of the cigar boom of the 1990s which meant prominent cigar companies had already formed and secured a foothold in the industry. Breaking in to a newly established market was no easy feat at the time, but persistence paid off in the year 2000 when he teamed up with Ralph Montero, a prominent cigar professional. That year they employed Davidoff’s master blender, Henke Kelner, to create the Occidental Reserve, and samples were sent to brick and mortar shops around the nation, garnering them 300 customers. Alec Bradley followed up shortly thereafter with the Trilogy, a triangular box-pressed cigar.

However, Alan Rubin and Ralph Montero hit their stride as late as 2007 with their first full-bodied cigar called the Tempus. No other Alec Bradley cigar offered a strength profile as powerful and perfectly balanced as the Alec Bradley Tempus. It was an instant success, which sent the company into overdrive. And what does a company do when the profits roll in and they want to be a contender? They throw down the knockout punch.

Two years later, in the spirit of going all-out for the sake of premium hand rolled goodness, the Alec Bradley Prensado was released, which immediately drew cigar collectors to retail counters across the globe. Immediately the ratings started flowing in - 91, 94, 96, hardly any marks below the 90 mark, leading to Alec Bradley’s biggest honor. They had made the number one cigar in the world. Sure, it took two years before it won the prestigious award, but the Alec Bradley Prensado had beat out the competition, and in just over a decade, Alan Rubin went from selling an import company to receiving top honors.

Since then, Alec Bradley has been pumping out stellar blends non-stop. The Alec Bradley Sun Grown has been making its way into everyone’s humidor; the Alec Bradley Nica Puro is perhaps the best Nicaraguan Puro to ever hit the shelves; and the Black Market should honestly be illegal it’s so good. They might actually need to start selling it on the black market.

It’s unheard of to have the kind of success Alan Rubin had while making every Alec Bradley cigar, well, aside from the Bogey Stogie fiasco. To go from nobody to top dog after failing with his first product in just over a decade is unheard of. But if Alan Rubin proved one thing, it’s that he knows how to make a damn good stogie.

06/02/2015

Partagas Ci**rs

Partagas ci**rs have been part of the cigar industry longer than most other brands on the market, originating in Cuba in 1845. Since that time, they have amassed what can be seen as an almost cult-like following, with fans of these ci**rs always staying loyal and smoking only their ci**rs. It’s no wonder why they always reach for Partagas, though with a long standing reputation for consistency, flavor, and quality.

About Partagas

Partagas ci**rs were born in Cuba in the year 1845, long before General Cigar Company started making the ci**rs we love under the same name. It was Don Jaume Partagas that started the Real Fabrica de Tabaco Partagas, and the brand was born. Having had the finest to***co plantations in the world at the time, he not only produced the finest stogies available, but it allowed him to experiment with fermenting and aging to***cos as well, making him one of the fathers of the modern cigar making method. Unfortunately, Jaume met an untimely fate when he met the business end of a knife or was shot or something in a lover’s quarrel and his son Josep took over, but eventually sold the company to a banker named Jose A. Bance who in turn sold it toCifuentes, Fernandez y Cia in 1900.

The business stayed in their control until both partners, Ramon Cifuentes and Francisco Pego Pita passed away in 1938 and 1940 respectively, when it was then handed solely to the Cifuentes family who acquired Bolivar and La Gloria Cubana. Of course, as we all know, the Cuban Revolution came about a decade or so later and the U.S. slapped an embargo on Cuba so we Americans could no longer enjoy any of the Cifuentes’s ci**rs or any other Cuban cigar for that matter. But this bummer was short lived when the patriarch of the family, whose name was also Ramon, turned down an opportunity to be in charge of Cuba’s to***co industry. He then upped and moved his production overseas and registered the Partagas name, along with Bolivar, with the General Cigar Company in 1978 and relaunched the infamous brand.

Now you may be thinking the Partagas of Cuba is still the original to which we say “that’s a load of BS.” Let’s put it this way - Cubatabaco, the state run Cuban to***co industry, is more concerned with pumping out ci**rs according to their labels than taking the time to properly ferment, age and roll to***co. In other words, Cuban Ci**rs including Cuban Partagas can be hit or miss. The Dominican version is essentially the original, with the same care and quality stogie heads have come to expect from the original Cuban offering.

Since 1978, the brand exploded with blends such as the Black Label, one of the oldest and most well-known ci**rs in their lineup. The Partagas 1845 line also burst on to the scene in recent years as a tribute to their Cuban roots to let everyone know they stick to their traditions to give the same flavors and quality as back in the old country. From there, they released different blends for the 1845 line including the Extra Fuerte and the flavor bomb that is the Extra Oscuro. But no matter which one you select, you’re getting the tradition and excellence that has always been Partagas Ci**rs.

06/02/2015

Camacho Ci**rs

Camacho Ci**rs, now under the watch of Davidoff, has been a kingpin in the cigar industry for decades, with fans lining up in greater numbers than Cleveland Indian fans during 10 cent beer night. For Camacho smokers, they are met by an array of flavor and perfectly balanced strength. For Indian’s fans, they were met with vandalizing the stadium, arrests, and a damn funny Wikipedia page. However, just like 10 cent beer night, Camacho Ci**rs come cheaper than some of the other high end premiums on the market, making them a great choice for anyone looking for a stellar smoke without breaking the bank.

About Camacho

The brand started under the watch of Simon Camacho who was exiled from Cuba in 1961. Why he was exiled is beyond us, but Cuba made a pretty big mistake because they would have had one of the most recognized brands in the world. After getting the boot, Simon opened his cigar business in Miami, Florida in that same year with the majority of the to***co used for the ci**rs coming from Nicaragua. His ci**rs gained popularity around the globe rather quickly and eventually found a home in the late Winston Churchill’s humidor. You know what they say “If big Winnie smokes ‘em, they must be good.” We’re not sure who “they” are, but they’re right, as Churchill was one of the most prolific cigar connoisseurs of the time.

After a few decades of raving success, Simon unfortunately passed away and the company was acquired by the Eiroa family in 1995. Camacho began a massive transition in the way they operated, switching from Nicaraguan to***cos to Honduran to***cos grown on the Eiroa’s to***co farm.

The Eiroa family was one of the elite to***co growing families in the world having gotten their start in Cuba in the early 1900s under the watch of their patriarch Generoso. The Cuban Revolution forced the Eiroa family to relocate to different locations. His son Generoso Jr. went to work in Nicaragua while his other son Julio joined Angel Oliva in Honduras. During his time in Honduras, Julio took part in government-sponsored cultivation programs that laid the framework for the Eiroa to***co plantations, a key part of making Camacho Ci**rs and maintaining consistency.

A year after working with the Olivas, Julio decided to go independent. In the subsequent years, he bought to***co farm after to***co farm which kicked Honduras’s to***co production into overdrive, with the Eiroa family being the number one producer of Candela to***co in the world. After the Eiroa family acquired Camacho, Julio’s son Christian took over a year later and he made it a point to use mostly his family grown to***cos, which include many Havana seed to***cos. Stogies such as the Camacho Connecticut and Camacho Triple Maduro soon hit the market and were an instant success.

By the turn of the millennium, they launched their incredibly popular Camacho Corojo line and in 2008, the company was sold to the Davidoff Group. Under their watch, they underwent a massive rebranding effort, creating new bands and boxes for their ci**rs, and introducing new lines to their already stellar lineup. Most recently, the Camacho Ecuador came on the scene and is hitting the most discerning smoker’s palate with unforgettable flavor.

The brand is showing no signs of slowing down under Davidoff, and with a parent company of such high caliber, it’s no wonder the quality of each and every cigar is top notch. There is no denying Camacho ci**rs are the stogies of the future. Everything they have released has been highly rated, and a mainstay in stogie head’s humidors.

06/02/2015

Acid Ci**rs

The Rebirth of Ci**rs started in 1998. Long Island native Jonathan Drew employed a handful of cigar rollers in Nicaragua, while back in New York, Drew Estate partner and co-founder Marvin Samel led operations from a warehouse office in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. The “ACID” name was inspired by Scott "ACID" Chester, a neighborhood artist whose work mixed industrial, urban, graffiti, and motorcycle art – and provided an ideal marketing vehicle for ACID Ci**rs. This "sub-culture" aesthetic has become a dominant aspect of Drew Estate's culture and vibe.

ACID ci**rs are all-handcrafted at Drew Estate's Esteli, Nicaragua factory. The ci**rs are rolled with some of the world's most select to***cos, and have developed an almost cult-like following among cigar lovers who like a little extra something to their smoke. That something extra is Drew Estate's secret infusion process: unlike flavored ci**rs, the method involves various combinations of nearly 150 herbs, spices, botanicals and essences - making ACIDs a cigar smoking experience simply unlike anything else on the market. That means the only way to truly understand ACID ci**rs is to experience them.

There are 4 distinctly different formulas at work here; so it’s helpful to look at each color band as an indicator of the strength and body of that particular infusion, as opposed to the strength or body of the cigar’s to***co blend. First is ACID Blue band ci**rs, like the highly sought-after Kuba Kuba and Blondie, which are mild to medium ci**rs – but are blended to be very aromatic and sweet. You’ll also see this metallic blue band on 1400cc and ACID Wafe ci**rs, which are very different shapes of ci**rs – but smoke with the same aroma.

ACID Red band ci**rs are a potent mix of ripe black to***cos and the heaviest aromas; strength and body hover around medium, but the aromatics in Red bands like Liquid and Nasty are intense.

The Gold band ACIDs – such as Cold Infusion – are lighter and more refreshing. They’re also very distinct, relying more on the natural cigar to***co aromas to produce a sensation that’s somewhat more complex.

The Purple band blends, like ACID Roam, feature creamier and super-complex aromatic hybrids that focus on flavor.

The flavor experience in each cigar is unique, and that’s why people love them – find the infusion you like best and buy ACID ci**rs online at discount prices here at Famous Smoke Shop.

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