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HALO Cigar Cutter Coming in April January 26, 2026 - Charlie Minato Chaveta S.A.—the parent company of EGM Cigars, a Swiss company that has its own cigar brand and retail stores—has announced its latest collaboration with Kacper Hamilton: a cigar cutter. The new HALO Cigar Cutter is an extension of the HALO Cigar Stand that was launched in 2023. Both products were designed by Hamilton. The cutter is a double guillotine with one movable end that extends out from the body of the cutter via a spring-loaded mechanism. It has an octagon shape and measures 2.28 inches x 2.28 x .39. The company says that the opening is large enough to cut cigars up to 60-ring gauge. The body of the cutter is made primarily out of metal with enamel accents. Four different colorways are offered: HALO Cigar Cutter Emerald (Gold/Green) HALO Cigar Cutter Lazuli (Gold/Blue) HALO Cigar Cutter Onyx (Silver/Black) HALO Cigar Cutter Oxblood (Gold/Red) Each is priced at CHF 159 ($205) and orders are expected to ship in April. Source: https://halfwheel.com/halo-cigar-cutter-coming-in-april/461223/

Under mounting US pressure, Pemex cancels scheduled oil shipment to Cuba MND Staff January 27, 2026 1 As the United States appears to actively seek regime change in Cuba, Mexico’s state oil company Pemex canceled plans to send a shipment of crude oil to the communist-run island this month, Bloomberg reported on Monday. On Tuesday morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum stressed that Mexico makes its own “sovereign” decisions regarding oil shipments to Cuba, but didn’t deny that Pemex halted a planned shipment to the island. Citing “documents” to which it had access, Bloomberg reported that Pemex was expected to send a shipment of oil to Cuba in January but “removed the cargo from its schedule.” “… The shipment was set to load in mid-January and would have arrived in Cuba before the end of the month under the original schedule,” the news agency wrote. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mounting-us-pressure-pemex-oil-cuba/

A Walking Tour Of Plasencia Cigars And Joya de Nicaragua We walk you through tobacco fields and cigar factories during Nicaragua’s Puro Sabor cigar festival Jan 26, 2026 - By Gregory Mottola Plasencia’s picture-perfect plot. Nestor Andrés Plasencia poses with some of his Criollo ’98 leaf at a farm known as La Caridad. Sunflowers at the end of the row attract bugs to keep them away from the tobacco. - Photos/Cigar Aficionado For a cigar lover there’s nothing quite as educational as touring tobacco fields and factories, and the Puro Sabor festival in Nicaragua offers plenty of such tours. On a recent morning our journey started in the tobacco fields of Plasencia Cigars, guided by Nestor Andrés Plasenica. He is the largest grower of premium tobacco in Central America and is also known for producing his Alma series, which includes Alma Fuerte, Alma del Fuego and Alma del Cielo. With its unfettered access to tobacco and vast inventories of leaf, Plasencia also makes cigars for other companies looking for Plasencia’s consistency and quality. The next part of the day continued at the Joya de Nicaragua factory. Joya is the oldest manufacturer of premium cigars in the country and its history is impressive, having been owned at one time by the Samosa government before the Sandinista Revolution. Now, it’s in the hands of Dr. Alejandro Martínez-Cuenca, who purchased the factory in 1994. Because it’s been around for so long, Joya de Nicaragua is the quintessential reference for Nicaraguan cigars. Waiting for the worms. Vermicompost—fertilizer from earthworms—is the secret to Plasencia’s soil. Thousands of worms inhabit this organic mixture that includes tobacco stems, manure, and leftover material from harvests of corn and beans. Young leaf under shade. At the San Benito farm, this field of Connecticut-seed tobacco will be used for wrapper. It’s grown under a mesh tent to filter the sun’s rays, keeping the wrapper lighter in color and more pristine. You’ll find this wrapper on the Romeo y Julieta 1875 Connecticut Nicaragua line, which Plasencia makes for Altadis U.S.A. An upbeat performance. The tour was treated to “El Güegüense,” a Nicaraguan folklore dance beautifully enacted in front of the factory. Working as a team. Like most factories in Nicaragua, the cigarmakers at Plasencia cigars work in teams. You can see a worker creating the bunch before it goes into a cigar mold. The other worker, the roller, applies the wrapper leaf. Up the stairway of history. The entrance to the Joya de Nicaragua factory leads to the rolling room. This is the oldest premium cigar operation in the country. The quintessential Nicaraguan factory. Joya de Nicaragua has survived a revolution and continues to produce an entire suite of its namesake cigars. During the Nixon administration, Joya was the official cigar of The White House. Removing the veins. Called “despalillo” in Spanish, the vein removal process is essential. Some factories use machines, but these workers take out the central stems from each leaf of tobacco by hand in one swift motion. Crafting a prestigious smoke. Rollers here are making the Joya de Nicaragua Número Uno L’Ambassadeur. It’s covered in an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and was Cigar Aficionado’s No. 6 cigar of 2020. Quality control. Before these Número Uno L’Ambassadeur cigars are sorted for color they are checked for consistency of shape. Each cigar is put through a gauge to be sure they are all at the same 44 ring thickness. This is one of Joya de Nicaragua’s highest-rated smokes in the history of Cigar Aficionado. Source: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/a-walking-tour-of-plasencia-cigars-and-joya-de-nicaragua

These are quickly becoming my favorite Fabrica 5 cigars.

Punch Punch - ALO Mar 2016...

As well you should!

Yeah, Reid can really strap on the feedbag.

I guessed Patriots.

Congratulations DD

My doc wants me at 185. I have not been below 200 in over 20 years so I am interested to see if I can do it. Down over all from 255. 94.346 kg to 83.915 kg. Eventually I will get there. Bike gets finished this weekend!

65€ per Stick. No way for me.

That's obvious looking at him.

I hate the Giants.😀

There's a clip of Jamie Foxx explaining how this wasn't that offensive. Very interesting take. It was on Joe Rogan.

Robert Downey was so good that the fact that he was in black face (a 100% cancelable offense for the last decade) went completely unpoliced. Even the cancel culturers knew not to touch it!

Poor thing.

I'm in this club, too. I don't have a rule, taste & construction drive the experience. When it goes below what I'm enjoying it's time to let it go.

Reid loves his KC BBQ. He went to Q39 after one of the SB wins! The hate started before Taylor but agree it fueled more flames.

Mag 50. My taste buds likey!!

Some recents… Te-Amo Toro - really good rebrand. RoMa Craft Cromagnon - disappointingly “unbold.” Padrón Diplomatico - speaks for itself, but no real strength (who smokes what to find Padrón’s “strong?!?!”). Casa Turrent 1880 Colorado Doble Robusto - yet another excellent Mexican puro. Tatuaje 10th Bon Chasseur - okay smoke, until the tar ruined it. Vegueros Centrofinos - meh, I’ll take any number of mid level NC over this CC any day of the week. Oliva Serie V Belicoso - this is one mid level cigar that is leagues better than the above…

My wife is from KC. I think some of the hate comes from the fact that people hate Taylor Swift and now associate their games with having to see her all the time. I think that’s moronic, but I’ve certainly heard it from several people as one of their main reasons. I just love Andy Reid. His answer after his first SB that he was going to get a cheeseburger is freaking etched into the comedy portion of my memory.

I’m a Giants fan, so I don’t hate the Patriots the same way others do, you know, because of those two SB wins against Brady. But I want the Seahawks to win for the Sam Darnold story. Not only is it a cool redemption arc, but his winning would stick it to Jets fans in a way I’m not proud to find delicious.

Im from Kansas City. The Chiefs are hated for winning as well.

Growing up in Western Canada there was limited option for watching NFL football as a kid. Seattle games were often the only games we got on TV, so I became a Seahawks fan. It would be really nice to see Darnold get a Super Bowl.