This was Hooten Young’s debut PCA tradeshow and convention but they have been manufacturing cigars for the US market for five years now. The brand focuses on honoring and paying homage to important military personnel and historic military operations and events. Their booth was closer to the back of the convention hall and was on the smaller side but furnished beautifully. They had two nice backdrops with a comfortable set up of weathered leather chairs and some wooden side tables. The main product table was filled with all their new and previous releases. 

First, Hooten Young were displaying The Operator which is a line that pays homage to all the personnel that serve in the U.S Special Operations Units. The cigar has a Cameroon wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder, and undisclosed fillers. It is manufactured in Nicaragua at Cordoba and Morales with an MSRP of $25.00.

To continue the homage for military personnel they have a cigar for the U.S Navy SEAL’s called Operation Neptune Spear which was the mission to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. It carries a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano Binder, and fillers from Nicaragua manufactured in Nicaragua at Cordoba and Morales with an MSRP of $15.00.

Lastly, they are adding the Operation Gothic Serpent 30th anniversary which is paying homage to the operation where Norm Hooten served with Task Force Ranger on the mission in Somalia. The blend consists of a Sumatra wrapper, San Andreas binder, and Dominican fillers blended by Eladio Diaz at Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera and will have an MSRP of $15.00.

Make sure to watch the entire interview with Tim and Norm as they talk about cigars as well as their adventures into the whisky world. 

Mitchell Santaga

Being a Canadian resident, his tobacconist introduced Mitchell to Cuban cigars and for special occasions he would light up a Cuban cigar. After exploring the Cuban portfolio, he stumbled into new world cigars and fell in love with the bold flavors and great consistency and construction. Ever since then he has been entrenched in exploring as much of the new world cigars and finding his favorites to keep in the humidor.