But that brings us to our spotlight topic for today and the focus of the Friday Brand Feature: Kafie 1901, its excellent lineup of cigars, and, as always, where you can pick them up to try. If you haven’t yet, light up a stogie with me, pour an ice-cold beverage and let’s dance.

What about the Kafie 1901 cigars lineup?

Starting with its Luxury Core Line and sweeping out to Stiltsville, Liga de La Casa, and Naked Cigars, there are quite a few choices under the Kafie 1901 belt. The Luxury Core Line, for example, has an eponymous variety with Maduro, Connecticut, San Andres, Sumatra, and Natural wrappers. The Kafie 1901 San Andres from the Core Luxury Line is actually made by my guys La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Kafie and Manuel Ynoa — La Aurora’s master blender — worked together to create the Serie L Natural, as well.

The Stiltsville line features 5-to-6-year-aged tobacco that was resting in 32-year-old white oak Anejo rum barrels. It comes in a single blend, with a triple-fermented Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, but two primary sizes, robusto and toro. Crafted and inspired by the iconic spirit of Miami, it’s smooth, complex, and bold in character. The sweet tip gives way to more toasty flavors. The unique aging process elevates those flavors more.

For sweet cigar lovers, the Liga de La Casa line features Maduro, Connecticut, and Natural finished cigars. Meanwhile, the Naked series comes in the same three wrapper blends: Connecticut, Natural, and Maduro. But there are no sweet tips on these bad boys.

It’s family-owned. Iconic. And while most cigars are handcrafted, there’s a small, yet impressive boutique feel. Even more so when you consider Dr. Gaby Kafie is a retired physician. One who is now dedicated to providing formative and encapsulating tobacco and coffee experiences. Speaking of coffee.

Kafie 1901 also makes delicious coffee beans

If you’re looking for premium, artisan coffees from various wordly regions, Kafie 1901 has that covered too. With blends taking inspiration from Honduras, Columbia, Brazil, Sumatra and Ethiopia, you can find your perfect blend of roast, dark or otherwise, brimming with natural flavors.

Imagine pairing Kafie 1901 coffee and cigars for the ultimate experience? That’s pretty much the idea behind the brand’s venture. As Dr. Kafie says, “When purpose meets passion, the result is excellence.”

What else can you tell us about Kafie 1901 cigars?

Founded in 2013 as a family-owned business and by a retired physician after the brand was so named, Kafie 1901 began crafting iconic tobacco-laden premium cigars to commemorate the life of Dr. Gaby Kafie’s father, Don Fernando Kafie. You can read more about the Kafie family on the brand’s site. They’ve undergone incredible socio-cultural transformation and growth, from the early 1900s on. Realistically, that’s true since the family has been around, which is even before that. Each member is described as being “eccentric, talented, motivated, hard working, visionary, and humble.”

“We are comprised of Empresarios (business men/women), Doctors, Lawyers, Architects, Engineers, Artists, Song Writers, Poets, and much more. Some of our cousins here in the United States proudly serve in different branches of the military.“

That very much describes Dr. Gaby Kafie’s own trajectory, from physician, helping others thrive and survive, to today’s cigar founder and connoisseur.

The original blend was the Kafie 1901 Don Fernando (DF) Maduro. From there, it launched the Kafie 1901 Connecticut in 2014, Sumatra in 2015, San Andres in 2016, and the rest is history.

When discussing innovative and inspiring stories, Dr. Gaby Kafie’s surfaces top of mind. After moving all cigar production to the La Aurora Factory in 2021, while still managing to delight customers for many years prior, it’s clear the dedication to the craft and love of the leaf is a priority.

Where can you buy Kafie 1901 cigars to try some?

While based out of Miami, Florida, and available across the state at many small shops and retailers, luckily, Kafie 1901 cigars are easy to find at many other places as well. For example, Best Cigar Prices, Smoke Inn, and Neptune Cigars all carry Kafie 1901 varieties.

Per usual, depending on where you live, they may be a little more difficult to find, especially out west. But I’m sure if you live in those areas you already know some ways to get your hands on boutique or less-accessible brand cigars by now. You can always reach out to me, too. I live in Florida, so. Bangarang.

The post Friday Brand Feature: Kafie 1901 Cigars appeared first on The BS Lounge.

More importantly, just because a renowned cigar aficionado scores a particular blend high, it doesn’t mean you’re going to love it or agree that it’s one of the top cigars on the market. Every palate is different. Everyone likes or prefers something different. And that is the prevailing idea behind Cigar Sense, a unique company and service, designed to help you discover and match your unique tastes.

That’s also our Friday Brand Feature for this week. I was able to get in touch with the Cigar Sense team — very humble, by the way — and so this one might be a little longer than usual. If you haven’t already, pour yourself a cold beverage, light up a cigar with me, and let’s feel this thing out. Get it? Because of senses? Okay, my bad, moving on.

What can you tell us about Cigar Sense?

Source: Mohd Jon Ramlan / Unsplash

Co-founded by power couple Franca Comparetto and David Wells in 2014, Cigar Sense was created to deliver a “reliable and independent system that could predict which cigars [people] will like and even love.” It’s an online advisory for cigar lovers who want to find new smokes. Personally, I also think it’s just a really awesome idea.

That mission was inspired by Comparetto’s experience after moving to the United States from Italy. She was used to authentic Cuban cigars at that point and had challenges finding new world cigars she enjoyed. Disappointing smokes are a thing, and she wanted to mitigate that and help others.

Mainstream views are generic and not relevant to everyone. The team estimates that the average cigar is not recommendable to more than 60% of cigar lovers based on their preferences. Despite that, taste is one of the most important factors to U.S. smokers and beyond, yet we’re pushed to buy cigars to find out whether we like them, as a sort of paid trial-and-error. There aren’t many resources for comparing or finding cigars that match a particular sensory profile.

Cigar Sense exists to solve this problem. Comparetto explains it best:

“David and I founded Cigar Sense in 2014 with a simple but stubborn conviction: cigar enjoyment should be … an enjoyment, every time. I had been frustrated as a smoker by the way others pretended to know what was “good” for me based on their agenda. So we built a service that works in reverse: instead of telling people what to like, we 1. analyze their preferences, 2. suggest cigars they might like, 3. ask their feedback to make sure we got it right, 4. offer suggestions and resources to learn more about and refine their sensory profile (there’s often a gap between what people believe they like vs. what they actually like and would buy). Our members keep telling us that we are spot on in 98% of the cases. So, this remains the compass.”

A “spot on” recommendation record is nothing to scoff at. In fact, I don’t know about you, but I would love to have a cigar resource that was spot on with recommendations that often. The next question is, how the hell do they do it?

Understanding the personalized, independent, expert cigar recommendations

Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge

The way it works is fairly simple. You sign up for free and share your individual tastes. That connects you to a database of thousands of detailed cigar profiles. A state-of-the-art solution will analyze your preferences based on what you share, and curate a new selection. But it’s not AI. “Cigar Sense is proudly not AI-driven, and our members’ privacy is extremely important to us.“

That Comparetto makes it clear this isn’t just some part of the AI boom, well, that’s good news to me. But as you navigate your cigar journey, real-time recommendations are provided.

Cigar Sense doesn’t sell cigars, nor does it serve ads or marketing materials. So, you don’t have to worry about being recommended brands with the biggest marketing budgets. You’ll get accurate, expertly curated recommendations, even with some small boutique brands thrown in there.

On the site, I spotted analysis for Diesel, Lampert, Viaje, Caldwell, Avowed, RoMA Craft, and more. They’re not tiny brands, by any means, but they are certainly not big-budget varieties like Montecristo, Davidoff or Romeo y Julieta.

When asked how they ensure all brands are included, big or small, Comparetto said:

“Our primary goal is to help our members discover cigars they’ll love, regardless of how widely known the brand is. Therefore, in our system, every cigar, whether it’s from a large established company or from the most recent tiny venture, is subject to the exact same process. This means a Viaje or an Avowed go through the same evaluation method as a Padron or a Cohiba. There’s no favoritism and no pay-to-play. The beauty of this is that many lesser-known brands rise to the top of someone’s recommendations simply because the cigar’s characteristics match an individual’s profile better.”

Building a reliable sensory profile

Source: Houcine Ncib / Unsplash

Already, even without much context around how they choose recommendations, you can get a feel for how important it is for the Cigar Sense team to get things right.

It’s not just those at the helm deciding which cigars to include, but the community. The review process has an involved yet reliable series of inclusions. Each cigar is blind tested and sourced directly from the manufacturer. That experiential information, along with specs, helps create a data profile or “sensory profile.”

The system uses the data to build sensory profiles for each cigar blend, and these profiles help match and recommend cigars to interested parties.

“The sensory profile of a cigar consists of a large amount of detailed data, including aromas, tastes and tactile sensations. These are represented in polar charts, which display how every cigar is unique. In fact, we match each cigar not just by what descriptors we encounter, but also by how much intensity they present and by how the different notes coexist.  This is the result of our panel’s descriptive tests. The panel work, together with the technology, is a very important pillar in our methodology, as it determines the accuracy of our recommendations. We train based on ISO norms for sensory analysis and regularly measure the performance of the team. Each panelist has tools to self-improve their alignment with the rest of the team.“

After collecting relevant data, cigars that do not meet the internal quality threshold are not recommended. There is a bar for filtering out low-quality cigars, as expected. So, not everything is just thrown around or recommended willy-nilly — there are standards.

In addition, Comparetto elaborates:

“Our samples procurement is driven by our members’ requests and by our proactive search of what’s new. Whether these cigars will be recommended is determined by the outcome of our panel tests.“

Cool, but who is Cigar Sense for?

Source: Ionela Mat / Unsplash

Cigar Sense serves everyone. It’s “for every smoker, everywhere.” It doesn’t matter where you live, what you like most, or whether you’ve been smoking for years or just starting.

“While a significant portion of our member base is in the US due to market size, we have members and cigars from all over the world. We also have a Chinese version of our website.”

When asked specifically what everyone needs to know about the company, Comparetto says:

“Cigar Sense is here to empower your personal cigar journey. We believe that enjoying cigars is a deeply personal experience, and our mission is to remove the guesswork and help you discover cigars that perfectly match your unique taste preferences, without being swayed by hype, marketing, or general popularity. It’s about finding your perfect cigar for every situation.”

“In the process, we can help companies better meet the collective demand. High tides raise all ships.”

So, there’s a business side to it?

Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge

Cigar Sense and the team also work with businesses, as well as ambassadors and other industry professionals. But Comparetto assures they “are not involved in the “pushing” of products.” In other words, they’re not interested in marketing or sales, just advisory roles.

“We had considered to partner with retailers in the “traditional” way in the past, but we decided not to sell cigars nor take commissions. Today we partner to license our recommender via API’s, which is also integrated with a POS system. We help not only retailers but also manufacturers. We recently integrated our engine with the Casa Carrillo website, which engages their visitors while personalizing their cigar selection process. We are always open to new ideas, as long as they don’t compromise our independence.”

It’s always commendable when teams have a vision, stick to it, and avoid compromising on their ideals. That’s especially true in a world so rife with corruption and compromise, like the cigar industry, where paid reviews, powerful influence, and sponsorships might affect scores.

“We also work with the industry, mainly helping manufacturers understand how their products align with consumer preferences. Our insights help product development and portfolio management in creating and prioritizing blends that resonate beyond marketing stories. We also provide sensory education to ambassadors and other professionals.”

Even so, the Cigar Sense team is dedicated to improving and providing reliable resources for everyone, you and me included, dear reader. The future of the company and its services very much aligns with the future of the cigar industry. Innovation and forward momentum are important, but not quite as important as the experiences we have with these beautiful, handcrafted products we all love.

“We keep researching to deepen the connection between sensory science, data and ethics. The future, for us, is still about putting the mindful cigar lover at the center of what we do. And we work with the ecosystem to create change. Over the years, we’ve realized that Cigar Sense isn’t just a service, it’s something closer to a movement. Every time someone trusts their own senses over the noise, they’re taking part in a quiet rebellion against hype, claiming the right to have their integrity respected, and with it, the right to a deeper pleasure the cigar is patiently waiting to offer.”

Where and how do you sign up?

Easy! All you have to do is head over to Cigar Sense and sign-up to get started. After that, you’ll be well on your way to a curated selection of delicious, one-of-a-kind tobacco experiences.

Of course, you can also find a host of additional resources at Cigar Sense. Virtual seminars with expert commentary, podcasts, articles and guides, analysis on various cigar blends, cigar tasting courses, virtual tasting groups, quizzes, you name it.

When I think about experiences and tools that align with the love of the leaf, a true resource for cigar enthusiasts everywhere, Cigar Sense sits at the top of my list. Expertly curated recommendations, personalized taste profiles, and the promise to discover new, untold riches, at least when it comes to tobacco, all sound phenomenal to me.

I know I already signed up. Have you?

The post Friday Brand Feature: Cigar Sense appeared first on The BS Lounge.

Today’s Friday Brand Feature focuses on RoMa Craft, a boutique cigar brand that offers incredible blends with remarkable nuance, exceptional experiences, and mind-blowing variety. From the CroMagnon to the Neanderthal, and the Baka to the Whiskey Rebellion 1794, it’s clear these guys have at least some idea of what they’re doing.

If you have a minute or two, pour yourself a drink, light up your choice of stogie and let’s explore the foothills of RoMa Craft country, shall we?

What can you tell us about RoMa Craft Tobac?

According to the team, RoMa Craft, as a brand, honors the philosophy of “combining quality tobacco” with “experienced craftsman” and “the right amount of time.” Combine these things and you’ll end up with “great cigars.” No compromises. Hard work. Perseverance. Eyes on the prize. At least some of that must be true, because if you’ve ever had a RoMa Craft cigar, they are incredible.

They offer a variety of blends with origins all over the place, including Nicaraguan, Brazilian, Ecuadorian and other tobaccos. But perhaps most surprising, if you’ve never heard of the brand, is that they blend offerings for everyone. Every style of smoker. If you like your cigars lighter but flavorful, you’ll find a home at RoMa Craft. Prefer your cigars bold and strong? Yep, there’s room for you here, too.

If you’re a whiskey, bourbon, or hard liquor drinker, you’ll also be pleased to know that RoMa Craft’s lineup always tends to pair well with adult beverages. Where other cigars might have trouble standing out with the bold, sweet, and spicy notes of rye or corn malt, RoMa Craft does not falter.

What about the RoMa Craft cigars?

The first thing you’ll notice about RoMA Craft cigars is that the bands are simple, almost understated. There’s never anything flashy here. You’re not buying these sticks for the style or presentation, and that’s not a bad thing. It almost doesn’t match the out-there names like La Maestranza, CroMagnon PA Broadleaf, Intemperance EC XVIII, and others. Why? The names are bold the names exude brilliance, and certainly stand out in a sea of cigar clones. But again, those labels.

And then you light one up. You clip off the top of that CroMagnon PA Broadleaf with its oily and delicious Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper glistening in the sun. You put torch to foot and pull some smoke into your mouth, letting it roll over your tongue before pushing it out of your nostrils. Chocolate, bold, creamy cedar and wood, pepper, and lots of more specific flavors will assault your senses. It’s at that moment you realize why RoMa Craft is, well, RoMa godamn Craft.

It’s an example of a boutique brand doing something unique while all the big names are stagnant. I’ve heard some espouse that New World cigars always have to be bigger and better and they’re always chasing some new “thing” to wow audiences. Maybe. But there’s nothing wrong with a unique experience, especially when it stands out as well as it does with RoMa Craft cigars.

RoMa Craft Baka has a Cameroon wrapper, mysterious fillers and binder, with Nicaraguan origins, but you’ll also get some scrumptious flavors from the blend. Roasted nuts, toast or bread, sweet cream, vanilla, subtle floral notes and more. Then, there’s the RoMa Craft Volstead 1920 with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and Mexican binder. You’ll get rich flavors of black pepper, cinnamon, cedar, leather, and beyond.

Trust me when I say words do these blends no justice.

Where can you get RoMa Craft?

RoMA Craft definitely has a boutique or craft-brand presence. The website is somewhat lacking in information. The social media accounts are not as active as you might expect. But the good news, the best news, is that you can find its cigars almost anywhere online. You may or may not be able to find them at your local cigar place.

Starting with the obvious, JR Cigars has a great selection, as does Cigars.com. You can also find them at Neptune, Atlantic, Small Batch Cigar, Famous Smoke Shop, and Cigars International. Personally, I recommend any other place besides CI for a few reasons, but whatever works.

If you can get your hands on anything in the RoMa Craft lineup, I’m fairly certain you’ll come away impressed. I’ve had a few myself, and the brand has yet to let me down.

The post Friday Brand Feature: RoMa Craft Tobac appeared first on The BS Lounge.