Fieri has a flare for the unique, whether that be his culinary efforts blending countless cuisines from all over the world and redefining the American culinary palate, his canvas of tattoos or his signature bleached blonde hair and goatee, which makes the long-time chef, restauranter and iconic presenter the perfect person to inject some life into the cigar industry. Fieri had an incredibly hands on role in the making of the Knuckle Sandwich, which comes in two lines, a natural and a maduro.
“It was always something I wanted to do,” Fieri told Cigar Snob upon the release of Knuckle Sandwich. “But I knew from having a small winery and the tequila that it wasn’t something just to become a brand stamp. I have too much expectation of involvement and didn’t want to be involved in a way like, ‘here’s some cigars and let’s brand them Guy Fieri.’
“In cigar appreciation, there is a lot going on. So I got the blessing from everyone and when I got my star in Hollywood [in 2019], I said I want to do this cigar and I started putting the word out. Through The Squire in Santa Rosa I met Tim Wong from Espinosa and he said he had a guy who could help. He said, ‘you need to meet Erik Espinosa.’ So I came to the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, and we met. And we stayed friends as we investigated how we could embark on this cigar. We finally came up with the Habano that we now have. We put the name under Knuckle Sandwich, which is my big company, everything else falls under that. We’ve never put that on anything, it’s too sacred. But after smoking the cigar and considering what we made and my relationship with Erik, it deserved it.”
Both feature a core of perfectly aged Nicaraguan long filler and binder tobaccos all surrounded by one of two top-quality wrappers, either an Ecuadorian Habano or Ecuadorian Sumatra Maduro. The Habano-wrapped natural line provides one with a medley of white pepper, cedar, nuts, and sweet cream and the Sumatra-clad maduro delivers rich notes of dark chocolate, spice, leather, and sweet dried fruit. With a medium-bodied profile for both blends, it’s not hard to recommend these flavorful treats to aficionados both novice and seasoned alike.
One can tell that the smoke comes from somewhere deep in Fieri’s heart. As it turns out, his love of premium cigars dates back to 1990.
“I came out of college, and I smoked cigars but not good cigars, not well-maintained cigars. When I graduated college, I ran a restaurant in Long Beach, a big corporate restaurant, and there was a cigar place down the street from my house. On my day off, I’d ride my bike to the cigar shop. I also would read about cigars, I read Paul Garmirian’s book [The Gourmet Guide to Cigars]. I made a humidor. I saved my money and bought some Hoyo de Monterreys, I fell in love with cigars,” Fieri told Cigar Snob. “When I opened my first restaurant in 1996, I went to the local cigar shop and asked to buy cigars wholesale to have a cigar patio. This was back when you could do that in California. And finally, I made a trip to Cuba and got some education there. Cigars have a mystique and an energy. I don’t slow down very much and when I get to have a cigar, it’s the best respite I can get. You need the right setting. I usually smoke on my patio at home, I have a house in Florida and in Northern California. I would love to have a cigar room at the house, my wife won’t let me smoke inside.”
One puff of the Knuckle Sandwich and it’s clear this isn’t just an ordinary cigar.
