Pro Cigar Continues (New Cigars and New Digs) by Frank Seltzer
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013Yesterday’s post was actually written before we arrived in Santiago…I admit I was cheating but with the Internet here you never know. On the flight from Miami on Sunday, I spoke with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo who confirmed he was making a new cigar for Crowned Heads. This is the Nashville-based company co-founded by Jon Huber formerly with CAO. The cigar will be the J.D.Howard Reserve, who is better known by his alias of Jesse James. According to Greg Mottola at Cigar Aficionado, Huber says Howard used to live in Nashville and he was intrigued. The new cigar will come in 5 sizes but the price and boxes and bands have yet to be finalized. The cigar should be ready for the industry trade show this summer.
Food and Beer in Santiago
So upon arrival in Santiago we met with Manolo Quesada who took us to a new beer bar (VinoBeber) which served an amazing selection, and had a nice outdoor smoking area. The beer that impressed us the most was the Dogfish Head Miles Davis Bitches Brew (made at a small brewery in Milton, Delaware). Released in 2010 to mark the 40th anniversary of Davis’s landmark album Bitches Brew, it is an Imperial Stout mixed with a Honey Beer. Amazing flavors as it warms up. Who would have thought you come to Santiago to get a small han- crafted American beer. We also discovered a new restaurant not far from the hotel called La Comai (not sure of the spelling) but they served a full pound of Mofongo with fantastic Chicharrones for about 6 bucks…and it is probably the best Mofongo I have ever had.
On Monday, Manolo took us to his new factory in Licey. I say new because they moved in a year ago, and since I was forced to cancel last year’s trip.
The factory has plenty of room now, compared to the original MATASA factory in the free trade zone. I will officially tour the place later this week and will report more about it then. On Tuesday night, about 60 people who spent the first couple of days at Casa de Campo in La Romana for the official start of the festival made the 5 hour bus ride to Santiago. A total of 250 people are signed up for the festival. At La Romana the participants spent a day golfing, or on the beach on Monday and then Tuesday morning they toured Tabacalera de Garcia—home to Altadis USA.
At Pro Cigar, a few of the factories often introduce new cigars and this year is no exception. The Quesadas are unveiling their new Fonseca Cubano Exclusivo. For years, the Fonseca brand has been on the mild end of the cigar spectrum. The primary exception was the Cubana Limitada which had much more strength for the advanced smoker’s palate. This new Fonseca is a middle ground for the brand.
While in the mild to medium range, it presents a fuller flavor so it is approachable for the novice while delivering a lot of taste for the more serious smoker. Using Dominican HVA (Havana Vuelta Arriba) wrapper over a Dominican binder and Connecticut broadleaf, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigar will ship next month in four sizes, Robusto (5.5” x 52), Corona Gorda (6 x 46), Belicoso (6.5” x 52) and Gordo (6.5”x 60). The prices have yet to be determined.
New Digs
For Litto Gomez at La Flor Dominicana one of the newest members of Pro Cigar, his mind has not been on the festival. Instead Litto has been working on a major expansion of his factory in Tamboril. About 3 months ago, he was able to acquire the land next door to the factory and in that short period he was able to clear the land and construct new buildings giving him a lot more space. Now, La Flor Dominicana has room for its tobacco storage (although not all of the tobacco is here some remains in a warehouse). Litto has been concerned not only with the physical aspects of the construction, but also the aesthetics. The results are beautiful.
His new expanded factory also has much more room for the rollers who now are producing about 3 million cigars a year. Litto says once the construction is totally complete, he will focus on new cigars for this year…but he admits that his big push will come NEXT year when La Flor Dominicana turns 20.