Tatanka: The Making of His Perfect Montana Cigar

I had the honor of joining Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter on his Pursuit Podcast last Fall. Afterwards, we got to talking about cigars. He told me about Ken Weinheimer, the owner of Rocky Mountain Liquor, and how he set out to create the perfect cigar.

By golly, I think he did it.

I'm not the biggest cigar connoisseur out there, but do enjoy an occasional stogie at the Summit Cigar Lounge in Billings. I did work at a cool steak house, martini bar, and cigar lounge in high school. When I was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, smoking a cigar was about the only way to relax and enjoy some time bs'ing with your fellow soldiers.

Here's what I like about the Tatanka cigar: it's got that dark, flavorful wrapper, but it's a smooth smoke. It's not overpowering. 

Ken Weinheimer joined us in our radio studios Friday morning after a cigar and bourbon fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. I asked him how he created the Tatanka cigar. This was the first cigar he had ever made himself.

Ken Weinheimer: "Through the course of it, we end up with a triple Nicaraguan filler, and a Habano binder, and then a Mexican San Andreas wrapper. So it's just kind of like a chef in the kitchen, right? You try all these different ingredients...and then we came out with this, and it was fantastic. So I decided to roll the dice, throw it out there, see if people wanted- what they thought of it- if they wanted to buy it, whatever they wanted to do. And it's actually become a very popular cigar in Montana. We're in 17 states right now."

Here's the full audio of our chat with Ken Weinheimer in the 2nd half of the below podcast:

By the way, that is Ken in the forefront of the upper left photo above and below. He not only served in law enforcement back in the day, he's a military veteran as well.

Featured in the lower right photo is Fox News' comedian Jimmy Failla enjoying a Tatanka cigar. Failla is hilarious. He has his own TV show every Saturday night on Fox News. He came and joined our crew for a cigar after his comedy show in Helena earlier this Spring.

Also- check out the Cattle Baron Cigars sign over Jimmy's right shoulder. Those cigars are also incredible, and are made by Dillon rancher Bryan Mussard with Reminisce Angus.

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