The mission to find new cigars continues

Many moons ago, I came upon a cigar shop in Santa Monica, US, the city that is often considered part of Los Angeles but is supposedly a different city. It was still early in my cigar journey and the sheer variety of the selection of different brands of cigars available was overwhelming, even with no Cuban cigars in stock.

I ended up purchasing a couple of Padron sticks, having just read about them in a cigar magazine and not knowing, at the time, know where I could source them in SA. While I eventually found a spot that supplies them, the one thing I often lament as I delve deeper into the world of cigars is the limited access to the many cigar brands that exist, especially “new-world” cigars, which are cigars that do not originate from Cuba.

Even with Cubans, I only occasionally get to smoke a stick or two of the more recent and limited-edition releases. Plus, with the heavy price increase on most Cuban cigars earlier in 2023, I often shy away from the few that I do find.

La Privada T52

About five years ago, a friend gave me a couple of the La Privada No 9 cigars because, at the time, he said they were too strong for him. We are laughing about it the other day because he, like me, now thrives on full bodied cigars. Since then, I have had a couple and always hanker for more. On a recent family holiday to Cape Town, I realised that I had miscalculated the cigars I was going to need for the trip and needed to restock two days before we were set to go back home to Joburg.

The closest tobacconist was closed by the time I got there and, after I ended up at a tobacconist with very limited stock but they had a box of the Liga Privada T52 Robusto, which Drew Estate (the makers of Liga Privada) bills as “a worthy humidor companion” to the No 9.

The starting point of the cigar was the wrapper, a Stalk Cut “American Habano” found at a farm in Connecticut, US when they were shopping around for Connecticut Broadleaf. They bought the crop for $400,000 and spent the next two years trying to find the perfect blend, going through seven iterations before deciding on what they term #3.5, a blend between #3 and #4. What makes the wrapper unique is that the tobacco plant is cut at the stalk. — as opposed to the leaves being cut off — and cured, after which it goes to the Drew Estate and fermented there.

The final result is a full-bodied, strong and rich smoke, with tobacco that has been aged for between 24 and 36 months before being rolled into a cigar, with a Brazilian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. The wrapper is dark and beautiful to look at. There is a sweetness to the smoke which, in a way, counterbalances the spicy flavours that come through when you smoke it. I bought two and smoked one in Joburg and enjoyed it just as much.

Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As De Oro

Mexico’s San Andrés Valley is renowned for its cigar wrapper — which is also stalk cut — cocooning various cigars like the EP Carillo La Historia, the Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro and Oliva Serie V Maduro, the 2012 by Oscar Valladares Maduro, the My Father La Opulencia, and the Rocky Patel Quarter Century.

While these brands are headquartered elsewhere, Mexican cigar brand Casa 1910 comes directly from the San Andres Valley and produces three cigar ranges, Revolutionary Edition, the Cavalry Edition and Soldadera Edition, dedicated to the various aspects of the Mexican Revolution. My cigar plug just got in a couple of their cigars and my favourite is the Cavalry Edition As de Oro Toro, which is named after Emiliano Zapata’s favourite horse. Zapata was a main leader in the Mexican Revolution from 1910 till his assassination in 1919.

I found the As de Oro to be medium with notes that range from wood, earth and spice to molasses sweet and coffee beans, that all blend wonderfully. It has a Ecuadorean Habano wrapper, a Negro San Andres binder and a filler that is a blend of tobacco from the Jalapa, Esteli and Ometepe regions of Nicaragua.

The mission to find new cigars to sample continues.