I couldnt hang with this crew.
Cigars in the car to Estelli,
Diesel, in the afternoon at the factory.
Then a Triple Maduro, just hanging around.
Then a MOW Armada, BEFORE DINNER!!!!!!
Then a MOW Ruination after dinner........
5 FULL BODIED sticks in approx 7 - 8 hours????
Holy moly.
Until I read this, I wanted to go on a Nic Trip and hang with this crew..... Not sure I could handle it!!!!.
Alex,
Keep the updates coming! Love to hear what is going on down there!!!
7am wake up and 8am breakfast with Josh, shorty and Juan at the hotel. 830am arrived drew estate factory. Ju an and shorty took the tour while Josh and I worked on some ongoing projects, one of which is a new subculture in the tabak especially line. The cigar is called red eye. The idea being if tabak especially is the cigar for a coffee drinker, this bad boy is for the guy how wakes up and drinks four espressos lol. It is a short fat robust with double the ligero that then goes through normal coffee infusion process. Great cigar and I am not u sully much of a flavors guy. Look for this one in November. Before leaving I was able to grab a handful of dirty rats. The bodegas were in fumigation so I had to steal them from the factory managers personal stash.
1 pm. We had a big day so we skipped lunch and went to tobacco home which is the local box maker here in town. I have been working with them tirelessly on the new man o war armada box. This thing kicks serious ass. Box of 32 with a two row, one in the bottom of the box and one in a lift out tray. The tray also comes with a humidifier and digital hygrometer. It is a real meal deal hand made humidor done right here in Esteli. The box itself is huge with tons of heft. I should be able to get pics of it up next week once I get back to the state and can take some professional pictures that will do it justice. The only thing better than the box is perhaps the cigars themselves which IMHO are amazing.
.
2pm arrived Tabacalera Fernandez to get back to work on blends. We talked to AJ and he thinks the triple maduro wimple we liked but wanted to tweak. He is confident the things about it we did not like were because the cigars were still fresh and wet. He made 20 more that he is going to age so we can revisit them in a few months. Got a new batch of samples of some things AJ has been working on in a variety of strength. A tray came out with about six blends. Another tray came out that had some small perfectos in the diesel blend for shorty to try.
3pm I am still working on samples. Shorty, Josh and Juan head down to the rolling school to keep busy and try to improve their cigar rolling skills. Josh is a pretty accomplished roller and works several of our events rolling cigars for demonstration. Today he spent his time masting some problems he was having rolling torpedos. With so many cigars in the bodega, I got busy on quality control spot checking several thousand cigars.
630pm before leaving the factory we grabbed a handful of San lotano habano and 5 Vegas triple a to smoke over dinner. To confess, I never actually got around to smoking them as I got kind of hooked on of abdels blends from the trays they brought out earlier in the day. We arrived at puyassos ole, a good restaurant for local eats. Josh and I loaded up on huge sampler platters of meat that we hardly put a dent in before slipping into a food coma. The only thing that woke me back up was lighting e triple a.
8pm having worn down shorty and Juan, josh and I retired back to the house for an early turn in as we have a big day tomorrow!!!
man...i wish i was with ya alex! sounds amazing so far....cant wait to see your new cigar coming out....I will be saving money specially for a box if you dont mind holding one for me!.....the new tabak sounds serious...cannot wait to get my hands on that....and let me know if u want to part with any dirty rats! ill take whatever I can get....lol....I hope you have a great time down there and we cannot wait to see the pictures when you get them up!!!!!
Well the last thing I want to do is upset the apple cart. I know a lot of guys have worked very hard on threads and different things and we have a huge history of reviews and ratings. I know we are not using all of the features with this one, let me talk to the IT guys and see about trying to improve this system first. Sorry for any false alarms. I was just super frustrated with this platform the other day.
Thanks tkholer for the help with the pics. Below are the two pics from monday. I did not take any tuesday thinking I was not going to get them to work. Now knowing that I have this up and going I will be sure to get back to snapping pics for you guys along the way
One pic is of pete johnson and pepin at the duty free in Managua. The other is shorty and me in front of the rolling tables at AJs place. Both are a bit blurry as they came off the old camera phone.
Awesome, glad you got the pics working, now keep taking them! We want to see more!! :-) All this talk of cigars makes me want to head outside to smoke a double espresso I got the other day...
Is this still in the works or did they change the location? Still very interested just have to fig. out when my vacation time will be. If the trip is to the DR I may have to pass as I have already been there and I've been getting pressure to take a different vacation this coming year.
Alex thanks for sharing your trip with us. Keep the photos coming and don't worry they quality is almost as great as mine excluding your fingers.
Is this still in the works or did they change the location? Still very interested just have to fig. out when my vacation time will be. If the trip is to the DR I may have to pass as I have already been there and I've been getting pressure to take a different vacation this coming year.
Alex thanks for sharing your trip with us. Keep the photos coming and don't worry they quality is almost as great as mine excluding your fingers.
still working on it. the havana daydreamers event is top priority right now. things are a bit more in limbo than i would like.
Is this still in the works or did they change the location? Still very interested just have to fig. out when my vacation time will be. If the trip is to the DR I may have to pass as I have already been there and I've been getting pressure to take a different vacation this coming year.
Alex thanks for sharing your trip with us. Keep the photos coming and don't worry they quality is almost as great as mine excluding your fingers.
still working on it. the havana daydreamers event is top priority right now. things are a bit more in limbo than i would like.
havana daydreamers event ? is there a thread or link?
Well the last thing I want to do is upset the apple cart. I know a lot of guys have worked very hard on threads and different things and we have a huge history of reviews and ratings. I know we are not using all of the features with this one, let me talk to the IT guys and see about trying to improve this system first. Sorry for any false alarms. I was just super frustrated with this platform the other day.
no worries Alex, their might be forums out there on the internet that have superior features and functionality, but the people here at the ccom forums and the great ccom customer service are far more superior than any feature that might be on some other site.
8am breakfast at the hotel. big plate of eggs to get us started. Nestor Plasencia picked us up at the hotel and we went to his Nicaraguan factory for the morning. We sat and smoked some casa magnas and cuavana intensos before getting down to business. Shorty and Juan took the tour and Josh and I started working down our checklist of things. First things first was a spot check of the 5 Vegas Gold Maduro production which looks great. Second item was to burn through some production samples of a new brand that will launch later this year called "Cuba Libre One", an extension of the original Cuba Libre line. This cigar has a lot of flavor and complexity. Something I am very excited about. Once we were content with the production, we moved on to new blends. Of about 10 we looked at, two were great and deemed quality to pack and bring home for the rest of the team to try. Then we moved onto something very exciting, a blend we have been developing for 6 months now called the Punisher. That is the factory nickname and a working title. Lots of ligero. In our quest to satisfy even the most full bodied fan, we have been working a special and very secret process in how we age the wrapper. I cant tell you guys too much, but no one else in the industry has tried it and the samples are coming out great. It leaves a hugely spicy flavor on your lips and the longest finish of any cigar I have smoked.
12pm the crew left plasencias and went to AJs for lunch. His wife prepared a very traditional cuban lunch for us with beef, pork, rice, beans, yuka, plantain chips and flan. After lunch we sat out on the porch and smoked some new cigars aj has been working on.
2pm went to the local hot sauce factory. While working on the punisher blend at nestors, it dawned on me that some sort of hot sauce promotion would be cool with the launch of the brand. Nicaragua is famous for their chili peppers. This factory has one of the most popular recipes for hot sauce in the region and I wanted to start working on a private blend by tweaking their recipe. We got the tour and met with the owner.
3pm Back to AJ's factory again as the guys wanted to go back to the rolling skill to brush up on their rolling and bunching skills and they spent the day in the factory. I did spot checks on the new diesel unlimited and smoked some cigars with abdel. The first batch of unlimited shipped from nicaragua yesterday so you guys should be able to buy them next week!!! They are great.
7pm After a quick shower they guys all met at Kris's house where three huge pizzas were waiting. Nothing like having a long day and scarfing down some pies after work LOL. We have a bottle of rum for after dinner and a box of 5 vegas triplle a and a box of san lotano habano. Life is good.
Two pics below, first one is us in the conference room at plasencia. Other one is shorty and I rocking in chairs outside ajs house after lunch... enjoying some fresh rolled cigars right of the rolling table of course!!
very envious of u alex...bring me back a shotglass that is unique if u can!-I collect them from all over the world when someone goes to a country! lol...glad your enjoying yourself!
someday... i will walk through a tobacco field in nicaragua sipping some bold coffee and smoking a strong cigar... someday... and wearing my panama straw hat... yes it will be nice.
Comments
I couldnt hang with this crew.
Cigars in the car to Estelli,
Diesel, in the afternoon at the factory.
Then a Triple Maduro, just hanging around.
Then a MOW Armada, BEFORE DINNER!!!!!!
Then a MOW Ruination after dinner........
5 FULL BODIED sticks in approx 7 - 8 hours????
Holy moly.
Until I read this, I wanted to go on a Nic Trip and hang with this crew..... Not sure I could handle it!!!!.
Alex,
Keep the updates coming! Love to hear what is going on down there!!!
1 pm. We had a big day so we skipped lunch and went to tobacco home which is the local box maker here in town. I have been working with them tirelessly on the new man o war armada box. This thing kicks serious ass. Box of 32 with a two row, one in the bottom of the box and one in a lift out tray. The tray also comes with a humidifier and digital hygrometer. It is a real meal deal hand made humidor done right here in Esteli. The box itself is huge with tons of heft. I should be able to get pics of it up next week once I get back to the state and can take some professional pictures that will do it justice. The only thing better than the box is perhaps the cigars themselves which IMHO are amazing.
. 2pm arrived Tabacalera Fernandez to get back to work on blends. We talked to AJ and he thinks the triple maduro wimple we liked but wanted to tweak. He is confident the things about it we did not like were because the cigars were still fresh and wet. He made 20 more that he is going to age so we can revisit them in a few months. Got a new batch of samples of some things AJ has been working on in a variety of strength. A tray came out with about six blends. Another tray came out that had some small perfectos in the diesel blend for shorty to try.
3pm I am still working on samples. Shorty, Josh and Juan head down to the rolling school to keep busy and try to improve their cigar rolling skills. Josh is a pretty accomplished roller and works several of our events rolling cigars for demonstration. Today he spent his time masting some problems he was having rolling torpedos. With so many cigars in the bodega, I got busy on quality control spot checking several thousand cigars.
630pm before leaving the factory we grabbed a handful of San lotano habano and 5 Vegas triple a to smoke over dinner. To confess, I never actually got around to smoking them as I got kind of hooked on of abdels blends from the trays they brought out earlier in the day. We arrived at puyassos ole, a good restaurant for local eats. Josh and I loaded up on huge sampler platters of meat that we hardly put a dent in before slipping into a food coma. The only thing that woke me back up was lighting e triple a.
8pm having worn down shorty and Juan, josh and I retired back to the house for an early turn in as we have a big day tomorrow!!!
"Long ashes my friends."
cigar.com was "renting" a spot on the AmBack forum that later became the EOTAC Forum and is now the "make ready forum"
all those old posts still exist.
you can find them HERE
basically cigar.com wanted their OWN forum.
here we are
One pic is of pete johnson and pepin at the duty free in Managua. The other is shorty and me in front of the rolling tables at AJs place. Both are a bit blurry as they came off the old camera phone.
Alex thanks for sharing your trip with us. Keep the photos coming and don't worry they quality is almost as great as mine excluding your fingers.
LINK
"Long ashes my friends."
"Long ashes my friends."
12pm the crew left plasencias and went to AJs for lunch. His wife prepared a very traditional cuban lunch for us with beef, pork, rice, beans, yuka, plantain chips and flan. After lunch we sat out on the porch and smoked some new cigars aj has been working on.
2pm went to the local hot sauce factory. While working on the punisher blend at nestors, it dawned on me that some sort of hot sauce promotion would be cool with the launch of the brand. Nicaragua is famous for their chili peppers. This factory has one of the most popular recipes for hot sauce in the region and I wanted to start working on a private blend by tweaking their recipe. We got the tour and met with the owner.
3pm Back to AJ's factory again as the guys wanted to go back to the rolling skill to brush up on their rolling and bunching skills and they spent the day in the factory. I did spot checks on the new diesel unlimited and smoked some cigars with abdel. The first batch of unlimited shipped from nicaragua yesterday so you guys should be able to buy them next week!!! They are great.
7pm After a quick shower they guys all met at Kris's house where three huge pizzas were waiting. Nothing like having a long day and scarfing down some pies after work LOL. We have a bottle of rum for after dinner and a box of 5 vegas triplle a and a box of san lotano habano. Life is good.
Two pics below, first one is us in the conference room at plasencia. Other one is shorty and I rocking in chairs outside ajs house after lunch... enjoying some fresh rolled cigars right of the rolling table of course!!
"Long ashes my friends."
thats one heck of a trip.