I recently reached out to Jon Huber asking if he would take the time to answer some questions, and he was kind enough to do so…

acigarsmoker.com: Jon Huber, a lover of music, and Nashville. How did you wind up in the cigar industry and ultimately with CAO?

Jon Huber: Back in 1995, I was at a crossroads in my life where I no longer wanted to just “have a job.” I didn’t want to dread going into work every morning; I wanted to do something I loved and be paid for it. At that time, I was getting really interested in wine and cigars. I loved that both were made by hand–with little or no machinery–I loved the romance, tradition, and passion each industry seemed to have. There was (and still is) something utterly noble about growing something from a seed, harvesting, cultivating, fermenting, blending, etc. One day, I was in a wine store here in Nashville and they had a copy of Cigar Aficionado (George Burns cover) at the register. I bought it, read it cover to cover, and started saving my money to purchase a few cigars each week. I became hooked. I was (and still am) a cigar ‘geek’ and kept the bands of the cigars I smoked in a journal; I took notes on each and every cigar I smoked. Soon thereafter, I knew in my gut that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

acigarsmoker.com: CAO is sold, and you are about to join the unemployment line. What was the thought process that led up to the creation of Crowned Heads?

Jon Huber: You could actually see the writing on the wall (in terms of what would ultimately happen to CAO) for about a year before the actual announcement was made that CAO would be moving to Richmond. So it’s not like it hit me out of left field; I had some time to think about things. I knew I had to stay in the cigar business–it’s in my blood, it’s a part of who I am. I also knew I didn’t want to make a lateral move and just go do what I’d been doing for another cigar company. I wanted to take a step up towards the next level, i.e., be involved with my own brand, and do things the way I’d always wanted to do them. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way; Mike Conder approached me outside of the office and asked if I’d be interested in doing something together. I said, “I’m in!” I’d been working with Mike in the marketing department (he was my boss) and I really enjoyed working with Mike. I’ve learned so much from Mike; I’ve always looked at him as one of my ‘gurus.’ From that point on, I couldn’t wait to walk out the front door (CAO) and get on with the next step. CAO was a wonderful chapter in my life; I will forever be indebted to the Ozgener family. But those last months there were absolute misery. I just couldn’t take all the corporate BS a minute longer. It went from being all about the love of the business and the product, to being all about the money, P&L reports, projections, 5-year plans, etc.

acigarsmoker.com: With the FDA looking to get involved in the cigar industry and smoking laws becoming Draconian was the decision more difficult?

Jon Huber: Those factors never crossed my mind or entered into my decision one iota. Those are legitimate concerns; however, I’ve always had faith in the general public in that the government will soon go to far and people will stand up for themselves and their rights and say, “enough!” Prohibition didn’t work the first time and it won’t work the second time, either.

acigarsmoker.com: Lately, it seems like everyone is releasing a cigar. Were you worried at all about the crowded market place?

Jon Huber: I was never worried about any other new releases, competition, etc. Worrying about those factors only distracts you from your task at hand. I felt that if we stayed focused on our vision and remained true to our philosophy, we’d come out on the other end with an excellent product that would ultimately find it’s audience. Honestly, I felt like the Stones when they were recording “Exile on Main St.” For the better part of this past year, we were holed-up in our space here away from everyone and just kept the blinders on and kept going forward.

acigarsmoker.com:  CAO was pretty corporate when you look at some of the small brands out there. How will having free reign of the marketing allow you to do things different?

Jon Huber: Being free from the corporate side of the business has been incredibly liberating. And when you’re ‘free’ you are more opened to creativity and your craft. We created ‘Crowned Heads’ to be the umbrella under which we would be able to create different brands–each brand with it’s own unique personality, taste, branding. In short, the way we’ve set it up, we won’t have to create each brand going forward to be consistent with the ‘Crowned Heads’ look and feel. Beginning with ‘Four Kicks,’ each brand will be very unique. I’ve always looked at this like a band. A band has a unique personality but it can record different albums, and each album can sound completely different than the previous one. Crowned Heads is essentially just ‘the band,’ and ‘Four Kicks’ is really just our first album. The next one down the road won’t ‘sound’ (taste, or look) anything like ‘Four Kicks.’

acigarsmoker.com: It’s been publicized that E.P. Carrillo will make Four Kicks for Crowned Heads. Can you let us in on some of the process that lead to the selection of E.P. Carrillo?

Job Huber: We knew the manufacturer selection would be one of the most important decisions we would make towards the long-term success and longevity of our company. In mid-January, we began actually evaluating manufacturers; we put huge sheets of white paper on the wall and we wrote out a list of about 15 different manufacturer choices. Then we created a rating system, of sorts, where we broke it out into various categories. Truth be told, cigar ratings played a small part of it but we were more interested in other criteria such as trust, integrity, experience, how many brands are being made there, etc. We narrowed down our list and in March we flew down first to Miami, then on to Nicaragua, for a series of meetings and factory visits. Ironically, Ernesto was the first person we met with; we had dinner with him and his son, Ernie. At that time, the topic of Ernesto actually making a cigar for us never even came up–we had a nice dinner, smoked a couple of cigars at his office afterwards, and he basically wished us luck and we went on to Nicaragua the next morning. So fast forward to late May, and we were evaluating all of our options and we kept coming back to Ernesto as being our ‘top draft pick;’ we just didn’t know if he was going to be open to doing something together. Keep in mind, up until then he’d never done a brand for anyone else besides himself. Fortunately, when we did approach him about the project he was very interested in working together. He felt that our philosophies lined up, that we both had similar approaches to the business end, and we both shared the same respect and love for the product.

acigarsmoker.com: I was recently in the Dominican Republic, and on the eve of your blog posting questioning the romanticizing of cigars I got into a bit of debate about the notes we taste in cigars. I said it was more about perception, then fact. Much like an aroma can trigger a memory, I feel taste is similar. However, in a recent conversation with an industry big-wig he said, “Despite the 5 tastes of salt, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami that we can distinguish certain notes such as cocoa, coffee, and more.” In fact, Umami is described as being meaty. We can distinguish the difference between milk chocolate and dark chocolate. We don’t refer to it as sweet, or bitter. Do you feel bloggers in general are helping or hurting the industry as you said in your words “romanticize cigars”?

Jon Huber: Ahhhh…the infamous ‘blogger’ blog. That created a lot of interest; however, I think a lot of people took what I said out of context. In that blog, I said that I AM a fan of the ‘flavor descriptive’ type of marketing; I just think sometimes it goes too far. I also said that ‘some’–not all–bloggers seem to be taking on a bit too much ego. I wasn’t making a blanket statement towards all bloggers. I think the online cigar community (including bloggers) has helped the industry tremendously. Together with social media, the blogger community has changed the way we (cigar manufacturers) get our message out. It has largely changed the scope of how business is done. That all said, I still maintain that a little less ego (with certain bloggers) would be a welcomed breath of fresh air. I’m just saying, keep things in perspective.

acigarsmoker.com: 2011 will end with a limited release of Four Kicks before a larger release. What can we expect from future releases? Will you stay with E.P. Carrillo or venture out to other factories?

Jon Huber: Our focus is to slowly build Four Kicks production and distribution as much as our supply (tobacco) will allow. Controlled growth follows behind keeping the cigars consistently excellent. It all begins with the right tobacco, and the right processing of those tobaccos–that is where Ernesto is a genius. You can expect to see a shape extension or two to the Four Kicks line next year, and we are entertaining the concept of releasing one size of a brand that would be released in full in 2013. In fact, I’ve been smoking sample blends for that potential project this past week.

acigarsmoker.com: Can we expect to see you make in store appearances in the near future on a national level?

Jon Huber: If anyone is actually interested in that, yeah I might rear my ugly head in a few stores next year. Seriously though, we are very determined to build this brand (Four Kicks) on the quality of the cigar and not on a ‘personality’ or a ‘face.’ We will be selective and focused towards in-store events; there are no plans for any ‘Grand National Tours’ or 50 cities in 60 days.

Each day we were given cigars to smoke, and the most popular among the group was the Macanudo Cru Royale, Partagas Red, Partagas Black and the new La Gloria Cubana Retro Esepciale.

I reflect to when I started smoking and my cigar of choice was Macanudo. While my tastes have changed and the blog constantly has me looking for the next big thing it was nice to revisit some of these cigars that helped mold the smoker before you today. It was nice to revisit some of these cigars  and find a long-lost friend in the Partagas Red. A cigar that was off my radar, that is much as the brands fault as my own.

Kudos to Dan Carr for taking the time to listen to us all, and stay a gentleman about it when some heavy hitting was done on the brand and why it doesn’t resonate with today’s cigar smoker and has a reputation of being the smoke of your father. I believe our opinions were heard, and that is worth something in my book.

I also want to give a special thanks to Victoria McKee who is in charge of Public Relations for General Cigar and applaud her for putting together a great trip with a wonderful itinerary.

I hope you enjoyed the recap, and we will resume with some cigar reviews next week….

For this gringo, it would be like working in a sweatshop. The areas that workers are in is temperature controlled by a long tube that tunnels cool air through the factory floor. For a person from the Northeast, this wasn’t cool enough to keep me comfortable. The amount of time spent walking around the factories and the farm is the greatest weight loss plan. I lost 8 lbs from the trip even though we ate like kings.

Our blends were set up at rolling stations with a worker to help us through the process. The general factory uses the entubar style of bunching and this was pretty easy to grasp due to the wonderful teacher I had, Maria. On a side note there is something about Dominican girls that are so easy to like. Their smiles, love of life, and thickness is oh so attractive. They exude passion and happiness that is contagious to those around them. After we rolled each stick, we places them in the press. 20 cigars in total, and when we were done we headed back to the conference room.

While the cigars were sitting in the press, we took a ride to the box factory that General owns in the same tax-free zone as the factory. Before we entered the factory we had to done masks due to the sawdust, ink fumes, glue, and painting inside the walls. It was here that a few surprises were in store. As we toured the printing presses, the wood cutting, construction and painting areas of the factory I was shocked to see some boxes being made for other companies. 2 that stood out were the La Aurora Cigars Guillermo Leon Signature and the EP Carrillo Dark Rituals (Limited Edition 2011). Considering that Ernesto Carrillo used to own La Gloria I was surprised to see his boxes being made by General. The factory was interesting to see how the boxes are made and the process involved, and the amount of time it takes to make a box.

Before lunch, we returned to the factory floor and rolled our cigars. 20 of them in total, 10 for us, and 10 for judging. The process was harder them I remembered and to be honest I only rolled about half of my cigars, letting the roller assigned to me do the rest. I didn’t feel the connection I did with Maria and just wanted the process over. It was no longer about rolling the cigar, but rather smoking the cigar. Major props though to Stephen from The Cigar Network who was nursing a major hangover, as he rolled the majority of the cigars himself. When we were done with the rolling, it was off to lunch in the training room.

The work day wasn’t over as we had to band the cigars, cello the cigars, and box the cigars. Putting them in cello, and boxes were easy, but getting the bands on, I have no idea how it was done to this day. I tried my hand at putting a few on and getting them tight, was nearly impossible. The 3 failed attempts I made took longer then the 17 successful attempts by the worker who was laughing with me at my pathetic attempts. We slid the cigars into cellos with out name on them, and places them into a macanudo 10 ct box. From here it was to quality control where the boxes were stamped with codes before being shrink wrapped.

Upon completion we had the chance to do some sightseeing or conduct interviews with the members of the factory and President of General, Dan Carr. As I asked questions as we strolled through the factory I opted to do some sightseeing. The first stop was Centro Leon, which is a museum owned by the Leon family, including my friend Guillermo Leon. The museum housed histroical artifacts and an art collection from the family. Sadly no photographs were allowed inside the museum. From there we went to the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración for which a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Obelisco is molded after. The cigars are bunched by hand before being put in a special press before being rolled. The monument which is made of marble was originally built by the dictatorship in his own honor before being renamed in honor of those who fought in the Restoriation War of the 1860s.

We ended our night with dinner at Camp David which offers a spectacular view of Santiago. We drank, we dined, we laughed and we smoked before Dan Carr addressed those in attendance thanking us for our visit to the factory. At the end of dinner we were presented with certificates for the completion of the course in The Art of Cigar Making. Also we were given gifts of cigars, and the winners of the judging were announced.

Best Overall: Stephen Boyajian from The Cigar Network
Best Blend/Flavor: Barry Stein (Me!)
Best Construction: Craig Vanderslice, Cigar Craig

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and the bloggers were left alone on the deck once again with Presidente Beer and Cigars to enjoy our last full night in the Dominican Republic.

Tomorrow: Closing Thoughts

Hidden behind a set of large security doors and off the main road sits a large sorting facility that has roughly 400 employees. The facility which handles mostly long filler could of easily been relocated to General Cigars in the city, but they opted to keep it in an area where jobs are needed. So rather than putting 400 people out of work they transport the tobacco to keep a community happy which is very admirable. While on a small scale, some of the larger companies in America should realize this before sending jobs out of the country. The factory has been around for roughly 40 years and was obtained 8 years ago by General to increase quality control.

It was here before our tour of Copota that we got the best education on tobacco that I have experienced to date. Don Quico took the time to explain the basics and then some to us. Once tobacco is planted it takes about 50 days to begin harvesting. The real number depends on the variety of the leaf, and the priming as well as weather. After the plant has grown for about 30 days the lower 3-5 leaves are removed. Between 30-45 days the plans begins to flower which has the seeds for fure plantings. In 6 weeks time the plants are harvested, with the the exception of Ligero which is 80-90 days.  Once the leaves are harvested they cure at 100-150 degrees. A candela leaf will cure for about 48 hours, where as a typical leaf will take 6 weeks. It doesn’t stop there though as there is 6 weeks of fermentation to follow as well.

After this the tobacco is sent to age before making its way into the cigars we smoke today. Aging time varies by factory but General allows there tobacco to age for one year before it returns to the Copata factory where the leaves they are using in the filler have the stem removed. The stem is later used in the soil as compost back at the farms. From seed to long filler in a cigar takes roughly two years.

Some other interesting items of note was the flavor of tobacco is mostly on the outer edges of the leaf. Also when blending a cigar and rolling a cigar, the ligero leaves need to go in the center of the blend otherwise a cigar will burn uneven. After we finished our tour we head back to the tax-free zone and the General Factory for another lunch fit for kings. After a brief tour of the factory hitting areas we missed the day before it was off to the farms.

The farm we visited was located in Mao which was roughly an hour and 20 minutes from the city center. The farm was originally used for long filler and candela wrapper but is being used also to experiment with other types of tobacco. While we were there the green houses had various stages of early growth for Piloto Cubano while in the fields Burley was being planted. General uses Burley tobacco in Cafe Creme but has not grown it in Mao in the past. The farms were filled with mostly Haitian laborers which I later found out is common. Seasonally, these workers cross the borders to work on the farms before heading home to their country at the end of the season. They are put up in barracks and fed by the company as well as paid for their time.

Once the plants are ready to be transplanted from the greenhouse to the field they are done so by machine to make sure to the proper spacing is used between plants to allow adequate growth and easier harvesting. The time spent in the fields is taxing with the strong Dominican sun beating down on you. As we toured we all exhaled a sigh of appreciation each time the sun ducked behind a cloud.

Dinner would be enjoyed under the gazebo which was built on the farm a few years ago. We once again got to mix with our hosts and talk with Dan Carr from General who took somewhat of a beating on our opinion of General Cigars. We all shared why the blogging community doesn’t review a lot of cigars from General and why the online community kind of shuns the company and embraces the boutique guys.  I hope the social media aspect and the approachability aspect of things we relayed was taken into consideration. After all, we aren’t going to get them to change the process, so either you like the cigars or dislike the cigars. The only thing that can change is the visibility aspect. Let’s face it, at one time or another we all started smoking something from General. For me my first cigar was a Macanudo before I shifted and moved away. Over the years General has fallen off the radar for me, and this trip I found myself smoking a lot of Partagas cigars. Cigars I lost track with over the years because of the lack of visibility. I forgot how much I liked this particular brand.

As the sun began to set some creatures of the night began to make their presence known. There was a gecko present who had a hell of a deal on car insurance and when darkness fell there were a good 200 bats flying around outside the Gazebo. It would of been a situation had to power gone out and the gazebo went dark. But thankfully we survived and headed back to the hotel where once again we went poolside as Stephen from Cigar Network put on a drinking clinic of 2 bottles of scotch and half a bottle of rum.

Tommorow: General Puts Us To Work!

Day 2 began with an 8:30 call to meet at the bus that would take us around Santiago. Like past trips I got up early to enjoy breakfast before heading up to the pool deck. This would be the common thread of the trip. The mornings in Santiago are comfortable with a subtle breeze. As the day moves along the temperature rises and the humidity follows suit. It’s really like spending 10-12 hours in a sauna and if you can handle it I believe it is the ultimate weight loss plans.

As 8:30 rolled around we headed to the Tax Free zone, Zona Franca which houses many factories. The factories here aren’t subjected to export taxes which I guess helps keep the prices a bit lower. Sadly, it hasn’t been enough as many textile places have left for the cheaper labor of China. The complex also houses other tobacco companies such as Matasa and Fuente as well as band maker, Cigar Rings.

We began the day in the training room where we learned the history of the General Cigars from the 1960 purchase by the Coleman brothers. 1968 saw the purchase of Macanudo. In the 70s the US rights to Parartagas were acquired, followe dby Cohoba in 1981. 1999 Punch, Hoyo, and Excalibur joined the mix and in the same year El Credito was added to the company. Today in 2011 General Cigar operates as part of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG).

One of many things to amaze me was the amount of land that the company holds. In the Dominican Republic they have 2,697,421 meters of land, Nicaragua has 53,181 followed by Honduras with 41,760 meters.

In the Dominican Republic there are currently 2,125  employees, and the amount of things General Cigars does for the employees is impressive. Since 1984, General Cigar has actively assisted the people of the Dominican Republic through a variety of initiatives which are underwritten solely by the company. In the 27 years since these outreach initiatives began, General Cigar has continuously financed its socially-conscious programs without soliciting donations of any kind. Some of these programs include:

• Literacy Initiative. Under this campaign, company employees, as well as citizens who live in urban and rural areas surrounding the company’s farms and factories are taught to read and write based on curriculum mandated by the Dominican government. Students who pass the course receive a diploma that is formally presented during an annual graduation ceremony, the most important event held by General Cigar in a given year. Victoria McKee shared with us a story about a grandmother who took part in, and graduated from the program. Upon receiving her diploma she stated that she could now read to her grandchild. Something she had not been able to do before.
• Continuing Education programs which offer a range of professional development courses designed to provide employees with additional skills and training relevant to jobs within the company. More than 4,000 employees have prospered under this program which boasts more than 50 unique areas of training, each developed in cooperation with technical education institutions.
• School Sponsorship endeavor which was created in 1997, has more than 2,500 students benefit from General Cigar’s support, which helps to broaden the scope of learning and ensure a better future for the children. Through this initiative, General Cigar provides broad-based financial to support to four economically-challenged Dominican schools. The company underwrites infrastructure costs, while also providing students with school supplies and sporting goods. General Cigar has also utilized this program to bring technology to remote urban areas by appointing the schools with modern computers.

The list goes on an on, but one other thing that also stood out anwas the fact that General Cigar purchases citrus fruits, vegetables, dairy products, livestock and fish which are then sold at below wholesale prices to company employees. After the presentation by Jhonny Diaz, Edmundo Garcia, Francisco Rodriguez and Yuri Guillen it was time to tour the factory.

The sheer size of a factory is tremendous, and the General Factory is multiple buildings but more on that as we go along. As we walked through the rolling room, at first I though it was specifically La Gloria Cubana, but it turns out many rollers were working on Partagas Black while we were in town. The skill that rollers display amazes me, along with the speed in which they produce cigars. According to a board in the room they were producing over 21,000 cigars a day which translates into more then 840 boxes.

After the quick tour, we were taken to a room where they had a table laid out with various types of tobacco. In front of each leaf was a puro of that tobacco. We were invited to mix and match the tobacco before us and have the roller piece them together in order to figure out a blend we would be rolling on Day 3. We would be judged on our creations. Of course Skip, aka Chief Hava tried to psych us all out by saying he would win as he was the only one of the group who had his own line. After about 45 minutes or so, we all had an idea of what we wanted to do and submitted our blends which we would bunch, roll,  and package on our own (with a little, ok, a lot of help).It was confusing to try different tobacco pairs, and not lose track of what worked and what didn’t work. But the process was fun especially since this was a bit different then in my past experiences. It was very hands on and a lot of fun to say the least.

After a lunch fit for kings that included some amazing rice with bacon it was time to head on out to the storage facility. The amount of tobacco stored by General is insane with tobacco as old as 1988 from Cameroon. Without getting into specifics the inventory on hand was worth millions of dollars. Some of it was sorted already and those that weren’t still had to be processed. The processing is handled by women who traditionally have better eyesight. The tobacco is sorted by size, grade, and color. The process moves faster then I would expect but when we had a chance to view the tobacco the color differential was so small it was incredible.  Francisco, our guide referred to some of the brown tobacco as candela (not like the cigar), and the hue of green was faint even under light. It was incredible to see these ladies work.

After our tour was over for the day we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and a pre-dinner cocktail with a cigar on the pool deck. We headed out for an Italian Restaurant in Santiago where we mixed for a bit before sitting down to dinner. I know what you are thinking, and i scratched my head at the thought of Italian in the Dominican Republic but I opted for Filet Mignon which was outstanding. We sat in two groups, at two tables and I was lucky enough (I think) to be seated with Michael Giannini from La Gloria Cubana. Let me tell you something, this guy can eat. After we all all ordered our meals he decided to order another meal of Churrasco as an appetizer along with some tostones (at my request). So basically Michael, David Jones of Tiki Bar, and Tony Blake from 365 Cigars had 1.25 meals. But it didn’t stop there. After for desert he ordered two different types of cake. We had to beg him to stop, by the end we were quoting Month Python, “I need a bucket”.

As we sluggishly moved to the bus,  and made it back to the hotel the powers that be went to their rooms or the 5th floor Executive Lounge and the bloggers were left to enjoy the evening. Victoria took care of us with 2 cases of Presidente as smoked cigars and reflected on the day.

Tomorrow: Mao, The Farms.

Leaving out of JFK on a 6:59am flight to Santiago I headed south with Victoria who edited her travel plans to join me on the flight. Once we landed we were treated to a VIP experience. There was no customs as we were ushered into the VIP Room and everything was handled by a liaison. Our luggage was even retrieved for us. There is no better feeling the being ushered through the airport without lines or having to wait for your luggage.

We took the short ride from the airport to the Gran Almirante Hotel & Casino where we were already checked in. We agreed to a short nap and I made up to meet with Victoria on the pool deck later in the day. Once I entered my room I was surprised to see a gift bag that contained Ron Barcello Rum, a Box of 1968 Macanudo cigars, a Colibri Cutter, and a Blogger Press Pass. I was too excited to be back in the Dominican Republic as my previous trips with La Aurora opened my eyes to a country full of passion.

I made my way to the pool deck and enjoyed the tranquility as well as the sights of a couple of scantily clad women before the madness of 14 other bloggers descending on the island. I made friends with the bartender, Freddy who would be my amigo before the trip was over. As a lover of cigars, I made sure he had one each day and we would speak with his broken English and my broken Spanish. Before long Benji Menendez would join me pool side for a bit, and we got to discuss a variety of subjects.

On Cuba I was shocked to hear how he would never go back to visit even if Fidel was gone. He stated that even with Fidel gone it would take many years for the old breed to die off before the new breed could change the landscape of the land. Which made a lot of sense, because if the Island under goes a change, many of the hard line communists wouldn’t change their opinion.

As I drank my Rum & Coke he shared with me his love of Presidente Beer and how he loved to come on the deck of the hotel and have one with Freddy.

We discussed how the tobacco industry is competitive but friendly. One of his closest friends in the business is Manolo Quesada and when they are together they never discuss cigars or business. He spoke highly Manolo and credited him with the idea of Pro-Cigar. We spoke of the tobacco bans and he referred to Cigarettes vs Cigars as Addiction vs Enjoyment. I also brought up my love of Peruvian tobacco and he believed it to be very low in quality, but has slowly gotten better since the 1960s.

There were so many analogies that I regretted not having my notebook poolside, but it allowed Benji to keep is guard down and we enjoyed each others company.

We were soon joined by:

• Anthony of Cigar Brief
• Antonio (Tony) of Casas Fumando
• Ben of Nice Tight Ash
• Bryan from Cigar Obsession
• Craig from Cigar Craig
• Dan from Cigar Explorer
• David from Tiki Bar
• Doc from Stogie Fresh
• Justin from Ash Report
• Patrick from Cigar Examiner
• Patrick from Stogie Guys
• Skip from Twitter
• Stephen from The Cigar Network
• Tony from 365 Cigars

Also joining us was Rick Rodriguez from CAO Cigars and Michael Giannini of La Gloria Cubana. We mingled, we ate, we drank. Things were pretty laid back as many had to spend the whole day traveling to Miami before a 6:30pm flight to the Cibao Airport. It was the perfect start to 3 full days on the ground that was ahead of us.

Tomorrow: Day 2, our first look at the factory.

He began the process with Olancho San Agustin wrapper tobacco from the proprietary 2008 crop. Ideal climatic conditions that year led to the expression of essential oils on the leaf. When processed, the natural oils contribute to the cigar’s uniquely robust, earthy flavor and full-bodied aroma.

To achieve its uniquely balanced, medium-bodied taste, Rick and his team have punctuated the flavorful OSA wrapper with a hearty Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler.  The result is a provocative taste that celebrates the nuances of Olancho San Agustin tobacco.

The cigar will be available in 25 count boxes in 3 sizes.

• Lot 50 (5 x 50/$5.75 MSRP)
• Lot 54 (6 x 54/$6.25 MSRP)
• Lot 58 (6.5 x 58/$6.75 MSRP)

So the question remains, how do these smoke?

Cigar: CAO OSA Sol
Size: 5 x 50 (Lot 50/Robusto)
Wrapper: Olancho San Agustin (Honduras)
Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Nicaragua, Honduras
Strength: Medium
Cigars Smoked For Review: 5

CAO OSA Sol

Appearance and Construction: The wrapper of the CAO OSA Sol has a brindle like appearance with some symmetrical variations of color on the leaf. There are some oils present on this cigar that has it’s fair share of ultra thin veins. In the hand the CAO OSA Sol has the feeling of rawhide between the fingers as we search for sport spots in the bunching of tobacco and roll of the cigar. The result was none to be found and the foot is well packed. The band of the cigar means nothing in the smoking of the cigar, but it can play a part in the first time a consumer picks up a smoke. With that said and done, I love the band of the cigar, specifically the wavy lime green storm symbol.

CAO OSA Sol - Foot

Flavor & Notes: The foot of the cigar reminds me of the sweetness from a marshmallow and some wood, in fact it takes me back to camping and roasting marshmallows over an open fire. The draw of the cigar is primarily earthy with some wood added to the mix. Once the cigar is lit a slight sweetness mixed in with some distinct notes of wood. In the second third of the cigar there are some notes of citrus that join the mix which is mostly earth and wood. The last third becomes heavy on the earth with some pepper and wood through the nose. The finish was just light being not too short nor too long.

CAO OSA Sol - First Third

Smoking Characteristics: When smoking the CAO OSA Sol the one thing I noticed the most was how dense the smoke was and the cigar became. The cigar seemed to get heavier as it went on. Thankfully it didn’t become wet. The smoking time was 90 minutes and the burn of the cigar was ideal. The salt and pepper ash on the review stick didn’t hold more than an inch at the time, but i was in a pretty intense phone call at the time waving my hands all over the place. The aroma of the cigar was woody and enjoyable.

CAO OSA Sol - Second Third

Conclusion: It’s funny how the loyalty of a brand can really alter the opinion of a cigar. I know a few retailers who were trashing this cigar before samples were even available out of loyalty to the brand under its old owners. The most important thing when trying a new cigar is to keep an open mind. The CAO OSA Sol reminds me of nothing in the current portfolio, which I think is a good thing. Is it the best cigar in the CAO catalog, no. Is it the worst, definitely not. The result is a cigar that was very enjoyable at the right price that I will smoke again.

CAO OSA Sol - Last Third

Rating: 89
Price: $5.75

The “Little Puff” is Draper’s signature fundraiser, an intimate gathering of cigar lovers (limited to 300 people). Proceeds from ticket sales and the auction benefit three local academic scholarships (The Erik Kristensen Memorial Scholarship in honor of a Navy SEAL killed in action; The Pat Krimm Scholarship & The Anne Berman Memorial Scholarship).

 

Attendees can interact with representatives from the best names in cigars (i.e., Ashton, Fuente, Padron, La Flor Dominicana, La Aurora, CAO, Carlos Torano, Rocky Patel, Camacho, Davidoff, Zino Platinum, Cuesta-Rey, Gran Habano, Hoyo de Monterrey). Past attendees have included: Carlito Fuente, Arturo Fuente; Arielle Ditkowitch, La Sirena Cigars; Janny Garcia & Jose Ortega, My Father Cigars; Nestor Miranda, Miami Cigar & Co.; Pete Johnson, Tatuaje Cigars and Jorge Padron, Padron Cigars among many others.

 

Well, there’s an event called “Breakfast at Drapers” tomorrow, Wednesday, August 10 at Drapers DC & Bethesda! This is where you can be the first to get your little puff tickets! The two different locations have different operating hours: Drapers DC opens at 9:30 AM; Drapers Bethesda opens at 10:00 AM

So it looks like the first 25 walk-in customers to either Drapers DC (640 14th Street NW) or Drapers Bethesda (4916 Del Ray Avenue) will be among the first to get their tickets to the coveted 12th Annual Drapers Little Puff. Gee, I wonder if there will be a line out the door, Apple store style…

Tickets for “Breakfast at Drapers,” are $225.00 and customers are limited to two tickets per customer.

The Breakfast includes:

• a Smoker’s Ticket to The 12th Annual Drapers Little Puff
• a light breakfast and
• cigars courtesy of The Ashton Family of Cigars.

Via W.Curtis Draper Tobacconist

First up is the CAO OSA Sol, which features a proprietary wrapper cultivated in Hondurs in Olancho’s San Augustin valley. The cigar is is the first release for CAO under the auspices of General Cigar.

I recently had the chance to have dinner at Club Macanudo with Victoria McKee who is the Director of Public Relations for General along with Rick Rodriguez from CAO. Rick who is in charge of new product development had an in depth conversation with acigarsmoker.com about the methods of aging and fermentation that CAO used in the past. He assured me that CAO under General would remain faithful to those methods. I walked away with an education in 3 hours that made me appreciate cigars and the brand  as I was really intrigued by the subject. I had my doubts about the future of CAO but I am confident that they are headed in the right direction. Of course tasting the new cigar will be key to making a decision as a consumer.

The blending process began with the Olancho San Augustin wrapper from the 2008 crop. Ideal climatic conditions that year led to the expression of essential oils on the leaf. When processed, the natural oils contributed to the cigar’s uniquely robust, earthy flavor and full-bodied aroma. The medium bodied cigar will have a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler. Allegedly, the result is a provocative taste that celebrates the nuances of Olancho San Agustin tobacco.

Ed McKenna, CAO’s senior brand manager, commented,

“We created CAO OSA Sol in the CAO tradition of developing exciting new tastes and eye-catching packaging. Considering the cigar’s distinctive flavor and accessible price, we’re confident that it will appeal to a wide range of discerning premium cigar enthusiasts.”

The stick is set to debut at retail in September, and will be available in 3 sizes, each in boxes of 25.

• Lot 50 (5” x 50) will have an MSRP of $5.75 per cigar, or $143.75 per box.
• Lot 54 (6” x 54) will have an MSRP of $6.25 per cigar, or $156.25 per box.
• Lot 58 (6 ½” x 58) will have an MSRP of $6.75 per cigar, or $168.75 per box.

The OSA Sol comes in a box that pays homage to CAO’s tradition of innovative package design by highlighting the San Agustin region.  The box’s eye catching color scheme celebrates the whitewashed curing barns located on the very farm where the tobaccos were cured.

It is safe to say our appetite has been wet, and we eagerly wait for our chances to light one up.

General Cigar will be presenting Wayne Newton with a $20,000.00 check for the USO on Monday July 18th. The donation made on behalf of IPCPR will be at 2pm at booth 412 in Exhibit Halls B and C.

General Cigar and the IPCPR are making the donation to support the “$1K a Day” campaign created to help fund the USO Las Vegas facility in McCarran Airport. Doug Bradford, center director of USO Las Vegas says it takes about $900 a day to operate the facility, which has been visited by more than 17,000 people with military ties since its opening last Veteran’s Day.

According to Wayne Newton,

Entertaining the men and women of our armed forces overseas has been one of the highlights of my life. I have been associated with the USO for decades and am honored to join the organization in accepting General Cigar and the IPCPR’s generous donation which will go a long way in helping fund the USO’s new Las Vegas center.

Dan Carr, the president of General Cigar adds;

“We chose to represent the premium cigar category by contributing to the USO because we value the organization’s heritage and long-term commitment to supporting members of the U.S. Armed Forces bravely serving our country all over the world. We are honored to assist the USO in enhancing their presence in the city of Las Vegas which has graciously welcomed the IPCPR tradeshow for many years.”

The USO has more than 160 locations worldwide that serve as a home away from home for our military. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the organization and its mission to lift the spirits of America’s troops and their families.

General Cigar’s commitment to supporting the USO stems from its comprehensive corporate citizenship program which is underwritten solely by the company. Since 1992, General Cigar has actively provided agricultural, environmental and educational support in the Dominican Republic and Honduras, where its premium cigars are handcrafted.

To learn more about the USO, visit www.uso.org