The Cigar Media Association, of which Blind Man’s Puff is a member, is pleased to announce the 2014 Cigar Industry Award Winners. With the establishment of the Cigar Media Association in 2014, the 14 members involved in the association wanted to create an award ceremony where they could honor and celebrate the companies and individuals in the cigar industry. This marks the first time a collaborative effort among various brands of the cigar media have come together for such a process.
Cigar of the Year: Illusione Fume D’Amour
When the votes came in, there were cigars here and there that were receiving the Cigar of the Year vote by members of the association, but the one cigar that was consistently ranking well, if not first, by the members of the Cigar Media Association was Fume D’Amour. It gives us great pleasure to announce that the 2014 Cigar Media Association Award for Cigar of the Year goes to Illusione Cigars for Fume D’Amour. Released at the 2014 IPCPR, Fume D’Amour is the newest regular production release from Illusione Cigars, and is a cigar that is ground breaking on many levels. It is translated as “to love smoke,” and is offered in a variety of more traditional vitolas. Crafted of entirely Nicaraguan tobacco, none of which come from the ligero primings, the cigar delivers a wonderful amount of body while having a tremendous complexity level. No matter the vitola being smoked, Fume D’Amour delivers everything that a great cigar should while remaining balanced and refined. We can all agree that Dion has tremendous blending skills, and his work with Casa Fernandez and AGANORSA tobacco have created magnificent blends in the past, but this is possibly one of the best he has created, and is a regular production cigar at that. Congratulations to Dion Giolito and Illusione Cigars for a terrific cigar and a successful 2014 year. As always, we look forward to future projects!
Brand of the Year: Crowned Heads
There were a lot of brands, both big and small, and new and old, that had a great 2014 year. In fact, there were so many that the votes were very close at times in terms of who would receive this award. But at the end of the day, the 14 members of the Cigar Media Association voted and the votes kept pointing to one brand. It is our honor to announce that the 2014 Cigar Media Association Award for Brand of the Year Award goes to Crowned Heads. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, and led under the direction of Jon Huber and Mike Conder, Crowned Heads had a tremendous year and one fitting of the name. The year began with the company’s first project with My Father Cigars, Las Calavares, and a limited vitola addition to the successful Headley Grange line, Laguito No. 6, which was worked on with E.P Carrillo. Out of the gate, Las Calavares was a hit and it was a cigar that had smokers loving the dynamics between Pepin and Huber. Those releases were followed up by the company’s first TAA release, The Angel’s Anvil, a cigar that was once again made with E.P. Carrillo. After that, the company announced its first regular production release from 2014, and that was the successful Jericho Hill. The cigar was showcased at the 2014 IPCPR trade show and is a cigar that pays tribute to Johnny Cash and Nashville, Tennessee. While that would be enough work for most individuals, Crowned Heads wanted to take it further and released five more limited releases and one regional release in 2014. One of the limited editions, The Buckingham, was crafted for a member of the Cigar Media Association, Logan Lawler’s Cigar Federation, and the regional release was The Tennessee Waltz, released for Huber’s state, Tennessee. While we all have our favorites from Crowned Heads, and the years in which they were released, there is no question that 2014 was a huge year for the company and that they dominated the media waves for nearly the entire year. Congratulations Crowned Heads, you had a terrific year and you should be proud of it. We look forward to your work in 2015.
CMA Member of the Year: Cigar Dojo
The Cigar Media Association consists of members with quite a bit of talent. The members have content that range from written content, radio shows, podcasts and apps. With all of the great brands, it was a tough selection process to determine the best of the best. It is our honor to announce that the 2014 Cigar Media Association Award for Member of the Year Award goes to Cigar Dojo. Cigar Dojo consists of short, easy to read cigar review, but primarily focuses on their social app which is available on smart phones and on the web. The easy explanation of the app is the Twitter for cigar smokers. Their tag line of “Never smoke alone” is the idea behind it as there are always members on the app posting about cigars they are smoking and allows you to communicate with others about their experiences. They even had a very large herf in Las Vegas is July for their members from all over the world to get together and meet in person. Congratulations to Cigar Dojo on their terrific year and we look forward to the continued greatness of the community in 2015.
Congratulations to all of the winners this year. The Cigar Media Association will be expanding the award categories for 2015 in addition to the three categories that debuted this year.
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