Famous Smoke Shop

Marking Five Years of Collaboration; Oliva Cranks Up the Heat with Inferno Expansion

There are a lot of interesting people working in the cigar business, but Rafael Nodal is perhaps one of the most remarkable. Arriving in the United States from Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift, the only thing the 15-year-old Rafael could appreciate about cigars at the time was the aroma of his grandfather's Cuban cigars. In this latest podcast on CigarAdvisor.com, Rafael chats with Gary Korb from his Boutique Blends Cigars office in Miami about the series of events that led him to heading one of the most successful boutique cigar companies in the business -- and he did it in less than a decade.

Cigar Advisor is the world's premiere online magazine giving cigar lovers, new and old, the info they need to know about the lifestyle they enjoy. Cigar Advisor Editor at Large, Tommy Zman's newest piece helps out the rookies of the leaf with a plethora of tips and hints on how to hang with the pros without looking like an awkward newb.