Not Just Blowing Smoke with Pastor Padron

An Evening with Toscano’s Michael Cappellini

Toscano's Brand Ambassador, Michael Cappellini, joins us as we pair the Toscano Duecento cigar with the latest High West Single Barrel to arrive at the 7-20-4 Lounge. This pairing will be featured at the High West launch party at the 7-20-4 Lounge at Twins Smoke Shop, Londonderry on Tuesday, April 12th. As we get this preview of the pairing, Michael will share the Toscano story, one that literally goes back hundreds of years! Pastor Padron and Pablo Maduro think this is a perfect pairing, will Michael, Pat, and Dave agree? Join us and find out!
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

SPC Mississippi River v Mississippi River Rum Barrel Aged

One of Patuente's favorite pipe tobaccos is Seattle Pipe Club's Mississippi River. Recently Pastor Padron brought the latest variant, Mississippi River Rum Barrel Aged. The recipe is the same, but the tobaccos are aged in a rum barrel for 30 days. After the tobacco is tinned, a section of the barrel is cut and placed into the tin with the slices of crumble cake so that the tobacco continues to be in contact with the charred oak barrel. Does this process add something to an already great blend, or is it nothing more than a marketing gimmick? We smoke both side by side and let you know. The answer might surprise you!
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Looking back at the 1st Quarter Releases of 2022

In this episode we take a look back at the new releases in the cigar and tobacco industry over the first quarter of 2022. What stands out? Were there disappointments? What might this first quarter releases tell us about what to expect from future releases? As we have this discussion, we will look at two of these new releases: the Black Label Memento Mori and Cornell & Diehl's Eight State Burley Small Batch. Tequila Talia also joins us as we pair these tobaccos with The Glenlivet 15. 
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Online v B&M

In a world where you can get just about anything, including cigars and pipes online, is there a place for the traditional B&M tobacconist? How can the B&M store not just survive but thrive in this e-commerce driven culture? In this episode we talk about that as we review the Padron 1926 Serie No. 6 Maduro. In our pipe segment we look at a tobacco that is new to Twins, Sutliff's Crumble Kake Red Virginia.
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Is Your Event Just Another Sale, or an Experience Not to be Missed?

Buy 4 get 1. Buy this box and get this swag. Come in today and get this special deal... Those are some of the typical tags we see over and over in the industry for events at B&M stores. But whether you are a retail tobacconist, an industry rep, or a customer, you have probably noticed that the traditional retail sales forward event does not have the draw or the flash it once did. As Albert Einstein said, "The height of insanity is doing the same thing, expecting a different result." In this episode we talk about doing events: the importance of them, the purpose of them, and different ideas we at Twins have tried to make events an experience you will not forget rather than just another sale.
Ashton's Lauren Ferraro joins us after a long hiatus to light up the Ashton Cabinet No. 8, one of the three cigars being featured at Twins Smoke Shop's Ashton Cigar dinner that will be taking place right here in our studio on March 15th. We will catch up with her, what is going on at Ashton, and talk about the upcoming dinner, the rationale behind doing this instead of a more traditional retail sales event, and what needs to happen to make a non-traditional event like this a success.
In the second half of the show, Kaz Walters from Laudisi Distribution Group joins us, fresh off our St. Patrick's Peterson Pipe event on Saturday March 12th. Instead of doing what we had done in the past, having a traditional trunk style show with a discount on pipe purchases during the event, we went in a different direction, where there was essentially a cover charge to attend the event that created an incentive to purchase a pipe. Kaz and the guys debrief the event while smoking 7-20-4 Briary Blends' Boston Tea Party, a new tobacco blended by Jeremey Reeves and produced by Cornell and Diehl exclusively for Twins Smoke Shop. 
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Pipe and Pint: Beer Pairings with Pipe Tobacco with the 603 Brewing Co.

An editorial released on Halfwheel on March 1, 2022, ignited a firestorm of debate about what in the premium cigar and pipe industries constitutes as marketing tobacco products to minors. The FDA has made it clear that marketing to children is one of the most important issues in their regulation of the industry.
We look at this topic from a number of vantage points, including parallels with the beer industry with our guests, Dan and PJ from the 603 Brewing Company in Londonderry, NH. As you can tell from the running time of this show, it was an engaging and spirited conversation about what constitutes as crossing the line to marketing to minors and what is not, how concerned should the industry be about outside perception (or misperception), and what might the future look like.
While we have that discussion, we conclude our 2-part series we started last week on beer pairings by pairing three different 603 offerings with using GL Pease Fillmore. In the second half of the show we continue talking about the topic of marketing to minors with the Rojas Street Taco Short Corona (and a 4th beer). Is naming cigars after food and packaging them in non traditional ways a bold marketing idea or just a bad one? Join us and find out what we think and feel free to continue the conversation in the comments.
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Bringing The Torch To Boston Beer Co.

Boston Beer Company's Catherine Shanely joins us as we light up the JFR Lunatic Torch Habano. She's bringing a selection of different beers to pair up with it! Which beer pairs best? How do each of the beers impact how we experience the cigar, and how does the Torch impact the flavor of the beer? Join us and find out!
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Who’s New at Twins

Tonight, we are joined by three new members of the Twins family, Nick , Shel , and Shyanne. As we help you get to know the newbies, we test their tobacco prowess as we review the Fiat Lux Intuitions cigar and 4th Generation Tobacconist's 1897 pipe tobacco, both paired with The Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve. Will there be hazing? We can't answer that, that would be telling. But we will be asking our audience to come up with a nick name for Nick. The person whose moniker is chosen will win a 7-20-4 Hustler Five and Dime T-shirt. 
Not Just Blowing Smoke is the cigar and pipe podcast that brings the knowledge, expertise, and fun of Twins Smoke Shop right to you. Wherever you are, and whenever you want it. New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to us on Podbean, iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, Google, YouTube, and to our website, notjustblowingsmoke.com, to make sure you don't miss a thing!