MARCH 1999

4.5" x 50

A slightly rustic looking cigar. It’s toasty with a smooth woody spice character and a touch of sweetness. Rated 88 by Cigar Aficionado.

Great Buy! Suggested Retail:  $112.50

6 1/4" x 54

Great Buy! Suggested Retail:  $212.50

5" x 50

A beautiful colorado wrapper. Oily and box pressed. A solid medium-bodied smoke with rich earthy tones and a peppery spice. Some sweet toffee and leather notes are also present. A complex, alluring smoke. Rated 89 by Cigar Aficionado.

featuring the new Habana 2000 Wrapper

4 5/8" x 40

"...one of the finest cigars being produced today."

7" x 48

  Great Buy!  Suggested Retail:  $120.00

Greetings from the Humidor

The least important factor in deciding which cigars get featured in the cigar of the month club is the country of origin . If Katmandu is producing a great cigar, it could very well be counted as featureable. But they’re not. And, as it turns out, all but one of this month’s featured selections come from the Dominican Republic. More importantly, this a good indication that the Dominican Republic is still producing the best non-Cuban cigars in the world. The variety of blends are staggering and the quality remains impeccable.

This March we are quite pleased to have Carrington back with us. It’s been a couple of years since they’ve caught the attention of the Aficionados and once again, Carrington is back in the race. Ranking high among it’s counterparts this month’s 88 rated Carrington No. VI Robusto is adored for it’s smooth character and trademark toasty wood character.

The new saying around here is "get ‘em while they’re good." Notice the final word is "good" and not "hot." We are not all that concerned with a cigar loosing it’s status, just it’s subtleties. A cigar produced today is most often different than the same cigar produced 6 months to a year from now. Despite the blend of tobacco remaining constant, tobacco crops can be slightly different from one year to the next. This is not to say that a cigar will be better with future crops. This also happens quite often. Either way, when we tried the brand new E. Trinidad by Sosa Piramide No. 2 we knew we couldn’t wait even a second longer to feature it in the club. Sporting the name we all adore (Sosa) the E. Trinidad by Sosa Piramide No. 2 is an all new blend rolled in Miami, Florida as a partnership cigar between Ed Trinidad and Arturo Sosa. The Trinidad and Sosa families, pioneers in the Cuban tobacco industry with over 180 years of combined experience and tradition, have produced a highly underrated cigar (88) that absolutely ROCKS! This cigar is guaranteed to please.

If you want to impress someone with cigar talk, just say "H 2000." That’s "Habana 2000." Habana 2000 is a new strain of shade-grown wrapper that crosses Cuban-seed tobacco with Connecticut shade. First developed in Cuba and now grown in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Ecudador, the H2000 wrapper is a smooth, reddish-brown wrapper that’s been dazzling the industry since it’s very recent debut. This month we’re proud to introduce the club’s very first H2000 wrapped cigar: the Henry Clay H2000 Mirabelle Robusto . Box pressed and H2000 wrapped to perfection, this 89 rated Clay is rich and alluring. It also screams of Cuban decent! Ripe for smoking today.

Just to keep things recent, we’ve got another 2000 for you. Although this cigar is not wrapped with the H2000, its a sign that cigar making tradition will prosper and evolve well into the new millennium. It’s the brand new La Flor Dominicana 2000 Series No. 3 . It’s size can only be classified as a petite petit corona, but it’s flavor is colossal. In our un-humble opinion the La Flor 2000 No. 3 is one of the finest cigars being produced today. It’s delightfully consistent, comfortable in the hand, and offers tremendous flavor for such a small cigar. At under $3 per stick this cigar is absolutely overwhelming! To be quite honest, there’s really no reason everyone shouldn’t have at least half a box. See for yourself.

We’ve saved the big guns for last this month with the Petrus Dominicana Churchill . Most commonly recognized for it’s Honduran line, Petrus is knocking everyone’s socks off with a new Dominican line. The 90 rated Petrus Dominicana Churchill is currently the highest rated churchill available on the market. Cigar Aficionado calls it a "complex, gutsy churchill." We like guts. Guts is good! Enjoy this one after dinner.

Happy Smoking!

Hygrometer Highlights
(issues to keep an eye on & interesting topics)

Wrappers Delight - Habana 2000

The cigar industry is abuzz over a new strain of shade-grown wrapper that crosses Cuban-seed tobacco with Connecticut shade. First developed in Cuba and now grown in Nicaragua, Honduras and Ecuador, Habana2000 is a smooth, reddish-brown wrapper that's already being used on such new brands as Montecristo H2000, Flamenco Las Palmas and Maria Mancini. Plans to use the wrapper on other cigars, including a line extension to H. Upmann, are in the works.

Central American cigarmaker Nestor Plasencia was the first to grow Habana2000 outside Cuba, planting a small test crop in Esteli, Nicaragua, in December 1996. Plasencia said the crop yielded enormous leaves that combined the best qualities of each seed component. The leaf was resilient and workable, like shade, but also full-flavored and oily, with a desirable sheen that's often missing from 100 percent Cuban-seed tobacco grown in Nicaragua. He said of that first crop, which was harvested in late winter 1997, "It was the perfect leaf, one I had never seen before."

In addition to its handsome appearance (so important to the success of a wrapper style), Habana2000 lends strength and spice without overwhelming the other tobaccos in the blend, according to its champions. "It doesn't dominate a cigar," said George Gershel, senior vice president of tobacco for Consolidated. "It adds something to it. It isn't too neutral or too sharp."

While most Habana2000 comes from Nicaragua, the Cubans continue to experiment with it, and Oliva Tobacco Co., a major leaf dealer based in Tampa, Florida, has planted 15 acres in Ecuador. "There are two reasons why we have started to grow Habana2000 in Ecuador," said John Oliva Jr., secretary-treasurer of Oliva Tobacco. "The first reason is because of the outstanding soil and climate conditions. The second is because we've never had blue mold there." (Blue mold is a tobacco-destroying fungus that flourishes in wet, cool weather. It's a constant threat in Honduras and Nicaragua.)

Oliva is optimistic about Habana2000's chances in Ecuador, saying he expects the same type of success his company has seen with its sun-grown, Sumatra-seed leaf from Ecuador. But no one is more enthusiastic than J.R.’s Lew Rothman, who believes it is going to be "the next great wrapper."

Mike Marsh, Cigar Aficionado