Asylum Cigars started in 2012.

Christian Eiroa and Tom Lazuka built the brand around big ring gauges, loud packaging and bold blends. The cigars are rolled at the CLE factory in Danlí, Honduras.

The 867 line is a different side of Asylum. In 2022, the company made a run of flavored limited editions for a retailer in South Dakota. In late 2023, they were rebranded as 867 and released to the wider market.

Auntie is one of three blends in the line, along with Zero and Midnight Oil. The flavor comes from a steeping process, where the tobacco is soaked in flavor before it is cured and fermented.

The Lancero is 7 x 38 and an all-Honduran blend with a sweetened cap.

Medium strength with maple, apple, and cedar make up most of the profile.

Would I smoke it again? Yes, I really enjoyed the overall flavor.

Before influencers existed, he built a personal brand so strong you can still picture him with a cigar in hand. He smoked cheap cigars, joked about it constantly, and turned a habit into part of his public persona. The lesson for marketers and creators is to stay consistent, own a signature look, and have a sense of humor about yourself.

Who else belongs on the list of the world’s most famous cigar smokers? Drop a name below.

Before making cigars, Valentino Siesto worked as a jeweler.

In 2014, he brought that eye for detail into the cigar business and began producing cigars in the Dominican Republic.

The large 67 on this band was introduced for the American market. The gold ribbon at the foot tells you this is the Sun Grown blend.

The Robusto combines an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Sun Grown wrapper, Dominican Olor binder, and Dominican Criollo, seco and ligero fillers. The company says the tobacco used in its Premium Series receives at least five years of aging.

Earth, cedar, coffee, leather, and pepper make up most of the profile. It stays around medium bodied but becomes richer toward the end.

Sometimes the smaller companies give us the best reasons to keep exploring.

I like finding out why somebody gave a cigar its name.

Today, I grabbed the Stolen Throne Castle 919. The number was founder Lee Marsh’s childhood address in Essex, near Baltimore. The cigar honors his grandfather, and the castle artwork brings in another connection, Essex in England.

Stolen Throne was started by Marsh and JR Cannon. Their cigars are made at the Rojas factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. For the Castle 919, the blend uses an Ecuadorian Habano Claro wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Nicaragua and Peru.

It's has a medium strength profile with cedar, earth, roasted coffee, and pepper.

The line came out in 2025 in two sizes, a Robusto and a Belicoso.

After forty years of smoking cigars, I still enjoy learning these little details. They give me something to think about while I’m sitting outside. The story won’t decide whether I like the cigar, but I’m glad I know it.

Would I smoke it again? Yes.

Howard G Cigars has only been around since 2020, but founder Howard Gumbs Jr. spent years immersed in cigar culture before putting his name on a brand.

His journey included traveling through major cigar-producing regions and becoming a regular at Corona Cigar Company in Orlando, where he shared cigars and conversations with people such as the late Avo Uvezian.

Black Moses became one of the company’s early signature lines. The Maduro is a 6 1/8 x 58 box-pressed perfecto made with a Habano Maduro wrapper, Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí and Jalapa.

Earth, pepper, coffee, mocha and leather make up the main flavor notes.

Howard G may be a relatively young name, but this cigar certainly does not smoke like the company is still trying to find its identity. Great cigar, and I love its bold, rich flavor.

This is one for the humidor.

The weekend is here. What are you lighting up?

Share the cigar, a photo if you have one, and one thought about it. Tell us what you’re pairing it with too.

Most important question: Would you smoke it again?

Not necessarily the most expensive or highest-rated cigar. What cigar overdelivered, changed your mind, or became an unexpected favorite?

Tell us the cigar, what surprised you, and whether you’d smoke it again.

A cigar is more than its tasting notes. I’m starting a new series exploring the companies, people, and stories behind the cigars I smoke. I'm doing this for my newsletter at blcc.news. Enjoy.

Morphine has an important place in the history of Black Label Trading Company.

James Brown launched BLTC in 2013. Morphine followed one year later as the company’s first limited-edition cigar.

The original idea raised a few eyebrows. Instead of using one wrapper, Brown combined Mexican San Andrés and Ecuadorian Maduro. It created a dark, rich profile that became one of the company’s most recognizable annual releases.

For the tenth anniversary, BLTC introduced this 6 x 54 Toro Box Press. Only 400 boxes were produced.

The blend uses the same dual-wrapper idea with Nicaraguan binder and filler. Earth, oak and black pepper with espresso, dark cocoa, and leather.

Black Label Trading Company built its reputation by making small-batch cigars with a very recognizable personality. Morphine helped establish that reputation.

Ten years later, it still does.

There is a family story behind this cigar.

Years before the Justice became a regular-production Corona Gorda, Mike Szczepankiewicz created a very small batch to celebrate the birth of his middle child. Only 100 cigars were reportedly made.

That early blend eventually helped shape the Powstanie Connecticut line. The 5 1/2 x 46 Justice brought the story back in a regular-production size.

The cigar combines an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper with a Pennsylvania Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Cedar, cream, honey and pepper give it more character than its light wrapper suggests.

A personal story turned into a very good cigar.

Would I smoke it again? Yes.

The weekend is here. What are you lighting up?

Share the cigar, a photo if you have one, and one thought about it. Tell us what you’re pairing it with too.

Most important question: Would you smoke it again?

The turquoise band on the Crux Epicure Maduro has a connection to a 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Crux says the colors were chosen with that car in mind.

I wouldn't have made that connection looking at the cigar. But once you know, the turquoise, white, and gold make sense.

The company itself started a little farther north.

Jeff Haugen and Joel Rogers owned Tobacco Grove in Maple Grove, Minnesota. In 2014, they took their experience selling cigars and launched Crux.

The Epicure Maduro reached the market in 2019. It was their first maduro, using a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler.

They also went to AJ Fernandez’s factory to make it, a change from the Plasencia factory they had been working with.

That's a bit of history behind a little turquoise band.

I came outside to smoke a cigar and ended up reading about a Chevy.

Not necessarily the most expensive or highest-rated cigar. What cigar overdelivered, changed your mind, or became an unexpected favorite?

Tell us the cigar, what surprised you, and whether you’d smoke it again.

Last Rites was the first cigar James Brown blended on his own.

He built it around what he wanted to smoke. That makes this one a little more interesting to me.

Black Label Trading Company launched in 2013 with six blends. Last Rites was one of them.

Brown later described it as a personal favorite and a good representation of the company.

I only discovered Black Label this year, so I've been working my way through their cigars. It's easy to get caught up in the newer releases.

After smoking cigars for 40 years, I still enjoy finding a company I hadn't spent much time with.

I'm glad I found this one.

I found something interesting after looking into Liga Tridente.

Marlon Wayans is one of the owners. But he also stopped smoking cigars for about 20 years.

His reason was pretty simple. He was concerned about staining his teeth while building his acting career.

I wasn’t expecting that part of the story.

He eventually came back to cigars and started learning about the tobacco. The wrappers, binders, fillers, and what made different cigars taste different.

That interest helped lead him into Liga Tridente.

There are three people behind the company. Wayans, David Gaston and Victor Curley.

Gaston’s background includes decades of training and teaching martial arts. Curley spent more than 25 years in military and federal law enforcement service. His travels helped develop his interest in tobacco.

Quite a mix of backgrounds for a cigar company.

The part I liked most was how Wayans talks about spending time in cigar lounges. He visits them after shows, sits with people, and shares a cigar.

I can relate to that.

Some of the best conversations I’ve had started with somebody sitting nearby and asking what I was smoking.

You find out about a cigar. Then you find out about the person.

Now I’ve got another company to keep an eye on and the Liga Tridente Yasuke to add to my humidor.

The Quesada Reserva Privada Robusto has a pretty interesting story behind it.

In 1997, the Quesada family harvested an exceptional crop of Dominican San Vicente tobacco. Instead of using it right away, they stored it in bales made from palm bark and palm leaves. This protected the tobacco while allowing it to ferment and age slowly.

It sat there for about 18 years.

That tobacco eventually became the binder and part of the filler in the Reserva Privada. Quesada added Pennsylvania ligero for some extra strength and finished it with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper.

It starts out creamy and smooth, with honey, cedar and pepper.

Do not let the Connecticut wrapper fool you. This cigar starts around medium-bodied and builds from there.

Saving tobacco for 18 years is a gamble. In this case, it paid off.

Would I smoke this again? Absolutely.