Forum Blend
Alex_Svenson
Posts: 1,224 ✭✭✭
Gents, sorry this fell off the radar. THe factories have been very busy with IPCPR and holiday production but some space is now free again so lets get back to it!! We left off on voting on the third and final filler. Here is my last post. This was meant to be a discussion thread to discuss the filler options before voting. Lets discuss and open for a vote later this week.
Time to discuss filler. THIS IS NOT A VOTING THREAD. Just an open discussion to share thoughts and ideas. Voting will open in a day or two. Note, as of now we will be getting toros, lanceros and torpedos in a medium to full bodied blend with a Sumatra Ecuador Oscuro (high priming) wrapper. When the voting gets going, here is how it is going to work, there will be three seperate votes. First vote, filler 1, second vote filler 2 and third vote filler 3. It is pointless for us to tally up the top three as they may not blend well with each other so I think we need to take this one filler leaf at a time. When voting, we are going to vote only on leaves, not primings and proportions. I will need to set those so they blend as ideally as possible and achieve the medium to full body we are looking for. So let the discussion begin.
Arapiraca - Found on CAO Black VR and Cigar.com Brazilian Label. Sweet maduro grown in brazil. Sugary qualities and an oily wrapper. Sweet with notes of wood and and a light peat and maple.
Mata Fina - Found on cigars like CAO Brazilia for example. Brazilian wrapper with a nice light sweetness but a core of chewy, leathery flavors and light spiciness.
Indonesia - Thin and somewhat blotchy wrapper. It is slightly sweet yet bitter also with a sharp finish. Found mainly on cheap cigars. IE Flor de Oliva.
Pennsylvania Broadleaf Maduro - large leaves grown in Pennsylvania and cured over hickory fires. This leaf is as sweet as it is spicy with definable woody, hickory notes. Examples include Diesel Unholy Cocktail, Rocky Patel Winter Blend and 5 Vegas Gold Maduro.
Habano Copan Honduras - also referred to as "La Entrada", this is a particularly unique wrapper that has become popular in the past 24 months. Grown by Oliva Tampa one of Honduras' oldest growing regions, this wrapper has all the elegance of Habano Ecuador yet teams with flavor and complexity as well as strength. Examples include Diesel Unlimited and Man O War Puro Authentico.
Jalapa Habano - Nicaraguas northern most growing region, its red soils and shade growing produce a very sweet habano seed leaf that is thin for ideal combustion and shows notes of cedar and hints of red pepper. Also available in limited quantities of sun grown for an even richer experience. Examples include Padron natural, gran habano corojo, cuba libre one, cu avana intensus and many others. Nicaraguas most popular wrapper growing region.
Esteli Habano - this wrapper has a very, very small yield. So small in fact that I can't name a single cigar on the market that uses it on account on how limited it is. Esteli is known for growing nicaraguas most robust fillers, every year, 1 to 2% of the crop is over wrapper grade and could be used as wrapper. A forum blend with this would be the first blend I know if in the industry actively using Esteli Sun Grown.
San Andres maduro - found on cigars like Padron Maduro, Nica Libre and Liga Privada Under Crown, this wrapper is very popular among maduro fans but its appearance is not the rich, espresso brown most maduros may present. Grown in Mexico from proprietary seeds planted in San Andres for nearly 150 years, this wrapper has excellent combustion with a pleasant sweetness and is ideal for medium bodied maduros which don't lake anything in flavor department.
Mexican Maroon- Steming from the same plant as the San Andres, these lower priming leaves take on more of a reddish hugh than its darker counterpart. The flavor is somewhat bitter yet carrys undertones of sweetness and spice. It is most noted for having a long and distinct, bitter finish.
Cameroon - Sumatra seeds planted in Africa and harvested by a network of small independent farmers, Cameroon wrapper can be found on a host of cigars including Cohiba Red Dot, Fuente and Partagas. Cameroon wrapper is toothy and oily yet very thin and delicate making if flavorful with ideal combustion. Most popular in the late 1990's, this wrapper today still remains a popular choice for master blenders, favored for its sweet cedary notes and long finish.
Dominican Criollo - most coveted as a filler, there is a small wrapper yield of this tobacco making it somewhat limited. While it is not much to look at, it is a rich leaf with a distinct bitter spiciness that delivers in both flavor and body. Many cigars from Pinar del Rio as well as Vegas Relic use a wrapper such as this.
Habano Condega - Nicaraguan filler from the north of Nicaragua near the Honduras Boarder. Found in almost every Nicaraguan blend, this filler is a main stay in many premium cigars as it provides a smooth base of flavor with some sweet and spiciness.
Habano Ometepe - Nicaraguas famous sweet water island. This tobacco is robust, sweet and hits you in the sinuses.
Peruvian - an exotic and toasty tobacco with some sweet cedary notes and floral tones.
Panamanian - an exotic and sweet tobacco. Thick smoke with notes of maple and a light peatiness.,br>
Columbian Cubita - an exotic leaf that is toasty and bready with slight pepper tones.
Time to discuss filler. THIS IS NOT A VOTING THREAD. Just an open discussion to share thoughts and ideas. Voting will open in a day or two. Note, as of now we will be getting toros, lanceros and torpedos in a medium to full bodied blend with a Sumatra Ecuador Oscuro (high priming) wrapper. When the voting gets going, here is how it is going to work, there will be three seperate votes. First vote, filler 1, second vote filler 2 and third vote filler 3. It is pointless for us to tally up the top three as they may not blend well with each other so I think we need to take this one filler leaf at a time. When voting, we are going to vote only on leaves, not primings and proportions. I will need to set those so they blend as ideally as possible and achieve the medium to full body we are looking for. So let the discussion begin.
Arapiraca - Found on CAO Black VR and Cigar.com Brazilian Label. Sweet maduro grown in brazil. Sugary qualities and an oily wrapper. Sweet with notes of wood and and a light peat and maple.
Mata Fina - Found on cigars like CAO Brazilia for example. Brazilian wrapper with a nice light sweetness but a core of chewy, leathery flavors and light spiciness.
Indonesia - Thin and somewhat blotchy wrapper. It is slightly sweet yet bitter also with a sharp finish. Found mainly on cheap cigars. IE Flor de Oliva.
Pennsylvania Broadleaf Maduro - large leaves grown in Pennsylvania and cured over hickory fires. This leaf is as sweet as it is spicy with definable woody, hickory notes. Examples include Diesel Unholy Cocktail, Rocky Patel Winter Blend and 5 Vegas Gold Maduro.
Habano Copan Honduras - also referred to as "La Entrada", this is a particularly unique wrapper that has become popular in the past 24 months. Grown by Oliva Tampa one of Honduras' oldest growing regions, this wrapper has all the elegance of Habano Ecuador yet teams with flavor and complexity as well as strength. Examples include Diesel Unlimited and Man O War Puro Authentico.
Jalapa Habano - Nicaraguas northern most growing region, its red soils and shade growing produce a very sweet habano seed leaf that is thin for ideal combustion and shows notes of cedar and hints of red pepper. Also available in limited quantities of sun grown for an even richer experience. Examples include Padron natural, gran habano corojo, cuba libre one, cu avana intensus and many others. Nicaraguas most popular wrapper growing region.
Esteli Habano - this wrapper has a very, very small yield. So small in fact that I can't name a single cigar on the market that uses it on account on how limited it is. Esteli is known for growing nicaraguas most robust fillers, every year, 1 to 2% of the crop is over wrapper grade and could be used as wrapper. A forum blend with this would be the first blend I know if in the industry actively using Esteli Sun Grown.
San Andres maduro - found on cigars like Padron Maduro, Nica Libre and Liga Privada Under Crown, this wrapper is very popular among maduro fans but its appearance is not the rich, espresso brown most maduros may present. Grown in Mexico from proprietary seeds planted in San Andres for nearly 150 years, this wrapper has excellent combustion with a pleasant sweetness and is ideal for medium bodied maduros which don't lake anything in flavor department.
Mexican Maroon- Steming from the same plant as the San Andres, these lower priming leaves take on more of a reddish hugh than its darker counterpart. The flavor is somewhat bitter yet carrys undertones of sweetness and spice. It is most noted for having a long and distinct, bitter finish.
Cameroon - Sumatra seeds planted in Africa and harvested by a network of small independent farmers, Cameroon wrapper can be found on a host of cigars including Cohiba Red Dot, Fuente and Partagas. Cameroon wrapper is toothy and oily yet very thin and delicate making if flavorful with ideal combustion. Most popular in the late 1990's, this wrapper today still remains a popular choice for master blenders, favored for its sweet cedary notes and long finish.
Dominican Criollo - most coveted as a filler, there is a small wrapper yield of this tobacco making it somewhat limited. While it is not much to look at, it is a rich leaf with a distinct bitter spiciness that delivers in both flavor and body. Many cigars from Pinar del Rio as well as Vegas Relic use a wrapper such as this.
Habano Condega - Nicaraguan filler from the north of Nicaragua near the Honduras Boarder. Found in almost every Nicaraguan blend, this filler is a main stay in many premium cigars as it provides a smooth base of flavor with some sweet and spiciness.
Habano Ometepe - Nicaraguas famous sweet water island. This tobacco is robust, sweet and hits you in the sinuses.
Peruvian - an exotic and toasty tobacco with some sweet cedary notes and floral tones.
Panamanian - an exotic and sweet tobacco. Thick smoke with notes of maple and a light peatiness.,br>
Columbian Cubita - an exotic leaf that is toasty and bready with slight pepper tones.
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Comments
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
i would like to warn again about using too many exotics. they dont play well with others.
however, it is fun to see how they blend in.
if i remember correctly i have decided not to vote on the blend but i would love to get my hands on a few when they come out.
I know many have voted to use Copan, but I think that would make a better binder than filler. Just my 2 cents.
it may be a good compliment to something that is not as sweet and not as round but has its own unique flavor.