Summary: Welcome to Episode 011 of Half Ashed! This week, we're taking a look at the new "E" from BOTL LLC. For those who aren't familiar, BOTL LLC are the same folks who brought you the Esencia line of cigars and Palio cutters/lighter. The "E" is their new offering featuring an Ecuadoran Habano seed wrapper, an undisclosed binder, and a Nicaraguan-Dominican filler blend. Listen or watch to see what we think of it, as well as a few more vital details about it! Legislative News: In the news this week, we had a couple of legislative updates. One from CRA, with the announcement of a new companion bill to HR792 - the Senate bill S772, which was launched with 6 Senators supporting it this week (4 Democrats/2 Republicans). The only other legislative update was out of California, where the Housing and Community Development Committee rejected a proposed ban on indoor smoking in all multi-family dwellings statewide. Existing law allows for landlords to prohibit smoking in their own properties at will, and for the time being that will remain the case. Common sense prevailed, at least for the moment. Other news items: We provided a little more of the backstory on Operation: Smokescreen...and the end of many a cigar smoker's hopes for a cigar-themed movie. Some rumblings, chatter, and hearsay about the possibility that CI now holds pipesandcigars.com. This may be old news, but was a revelation to me - and something I was unaware of happening. A discussion of a recent story and subsequent editorial from the Stogie Guys about the fact that Phillip Morris (and parent company Altria) have come out against the protection of the premium cigar industry from FDA regulation. Cigar Federation! Our beloved CigFed is getting a facelift! CigarChat has been added to the lineup of quality programming available at the Cigar Federation, which brings onboard the two fine gentlemen who do that show (Robby Rasmussen & Logan Lawler). Logan, being a social media and webmaster kinda guy, has taken on the task of redesigning the site to make it more userfriendly and effective in its mission of providing quality cigar industry content and community for those who enjoy the hobby. He has already made some sweeping changes, and is doing a phenomenal job revamping the site and making it better. Kudos to Logan! We're looking forward to seeing it evolve. Everyone needs to check that out and sign yourself up with a profile if you haven't already... Gordon Mott published a Cigar Aficionado blog entry this week calling out a certain cigar company for misusing past CA ratings of one of their products to market a very different product today. What else have we been smoking? Craig - The J. Fuego Edicion de Familia, the Ezra Zion Inception (now Jamais Vu), and a couple more surprises... Kip - Litto Gomez Small Batch 4 (listen as Kip admits to being a total nicotine wus with this cigar), the Leon Jimenes Series 300 (a wonderful surprise in a bargain cigar), as well as the first six releases of Eddie Ortega's Wild Bunch, published first here on The Cigarmy. What else have we been enjoying with our cigars? Kip - Cuban coffee, although my results are "mixed" to be generous. The quality in terms of flavor and enjoyment are quite limited from my trials so far, but the heart palpitations are fun at times.... Upcoming Shows: Next week's Cigar of the Week is an unbanded, provided by Dan Crouch. Dan took a novel approach with this submission, in that he submitted 2 different vitolas from the same line. Tune in next week to find out how that goes. On May 10th, we will have our next LIVE show, broadcast on Cigar Federation. We'll be talking with special guests from Ezra Zion about their upcoming Limited Edition release of the Tantrum. The following week, we will have another special guest - William Cooper (Cigar_Coop) to get his insights into the industry, how it's going, where it's going,
