Summary: Half Ashed Ep. 021: TL Johnson Good day and welcome back for another fun-filled episode of Half Ashed. This week, we host Terry Johnson of TL Johnson Cigars. Terry sits in for the first hour of the show, while we smoke his fantastic Tempio and talk cigars, flyfishing (TL Johnson also produces fly rods), and other gentlemanly topics. We then covered a few news items for this week, and some of the usual suspects in show segments. Thanks for tuning in, and enjoy! Featured Cigar This week, we take a look at the TL Johnson Tempio, a cigar that I reviewed last year and smoke on a regular basis myself. I had a suspicion that Craig would enjoy it just as much as I. I was right. Produced for Terry by Luis Sanchez at La Tradicion Cubana, the Tempio is chocked full of sweet cedar, mild citrus, and toasty oaken flavors. As is the case with Luis' other production, the Tempio never disappoints in terms of construction and consistency. Definitely worth seeking out a retailer that carries the line - or requesting them from your local shop. It features a Pennsylvanian wrapper, draped around a Dominican and Nicaraguan binder/filler blend - and is fantastically flavorful. Industry News Legislatively, the only news we cover this week is the recent development for the FDA in beginning to exercise more power in controlling product introduction into the marketplace with regard to tobacco products - denying 4 of 6 requests for new cigarette products. In cigar news, we go through a small portion of the IPCPR news this week concerning new cigars to be launched in the near future - notably, the Casa Fernandez 35th Anniversary and Reserva Maduro, a special release from Espinosa for CHATWEETUP2013, and other offerings from Royal Gold (produced by Drew Estate), Pinar Del Rio, George Rico (GAR), and House of Emilio. We also cover the departure of a familiar face at My Father Cigars, and recent acquisition of Heavenly Cigars by Drew Estate. What Else Have We Been Smoking? Craig: Back to some Cuban roots this week Kip: Sam Leccia's Black & White Miscellany Family time with Craig, and a 3-day jaunt to South Florida for Kip - as well as a couple of listener emails for the week. Wrap Be sure you all come back next week for Episode 022, as we get into highgear leading into IPCPR. That show will likely be recorded outside our normal Friday night timeframe due to the Independence Day holiday. I will tweet/post the schedule once we finalize the timing. In the meantime, if you would like to contact us, you can reach us through the contact page or at the following email addresses: kip@thecigarmy.com or craig@thecigarmy.com. Don’t forget to get those emails in this month to be entered in our current giveaway. Also, remember you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, which can be found in the Half Ashed Archive. You can download this week’s audio directly below (right-click “Download” and save), or find us on iTunes. Video, as always, will be available at the CigFed Half Ashed Video Archive. P.S. – If you have unbanded suggestions or contributions, you can get those to us by sending an email to info@thecigarmy.com. This email address goes directly to my wife, so you can simply suggest an unbanded cigar for her to source, or send me an email to kip@thecigarmy.com if you have something you’d like to send in. I will provide an address to send them. Thanks!
