A Legendary Nicaraguan Tobacco Brand Just Dropped A Limited-Edition Cigar
These rarefied smokes cost $100 per cigar, or $2,000 for a box of 20.
One of Nicaragua’s most legendary cigarmakers just dropped a special-edition stogie, and if you want to be one of the lucky few to try it, it might be time to start calling some local shops. Nicaragua’s Plasencia family and the Plasencia 1865 Cigar Company announced a limited edition smoke made with the first wrapper leaf ever grown in a renowned region of the country.
Alma Del Fuego Ometepe Edicion Limidada is a Nicaraguan puro made with wrapper leaf from Ometepe, a difficult area in which to cultivate high-quality tobacco leaf. It’s a story that calls to mind a similar project from an adjoining cigarmaking country: the Dominican Republic’s Fuente Fuente Opus X line (and no, that’s not a typo.)
The Fuente family was the first to successfully grow tasty wrapper leaf in the Dominican Republic — a country that (while known for its cigar leaf) had mostly exported filler and binder tobaccos. Switzerland-based Davidoff of Geneva (which produces many of its cigars in the DR) typically imported its wrapper leaf from places like Nicaragua and Ecuador, among others.
The Plasencia family is not the first to grow wrapper leaf in Nicaragua, however, they are the first to grow it in the notoriously irregular terrain of the small growing region. The tobacco grown there makes for delicious filler tobacco (which does not need to look good to taste good), but getting broad, blemish-free wrapper leaf out of the region is an equivalent achievement to a pilot pulling off a smooth landing on a gravel backroad.
The Fuente line has gone on to produce a constant stream of awards and accolades, including this most recent year’s Cigar of the Year from Cigar Aficionado. But the Plasencia family has made cigars for Rocky Patel, Alec Bradley, Ferio Tego, Nat Sherman, Casa Magna, C.A.O., non-Cuban Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo lines, and their own brands.
Will this innovative new smoke become the same elusive crowd-pleaser? It’s hard to tell, though initial reviews have suggested a rich and complex flavor profile of dark chocolate, coffee, toasted nuts and black pepper — common themes among some of Plasencia’s greatest blends. Alma Del Fuego Ometepe Edicion Limidada is available in just one size for the moment: a stubby pointed torpedo measuring 6 inches by 54 ring. For their efforts to make it (which included soil analysis and adapted organic fertilization practices), the release’s price tag is understandably hefty: $100 per smoke, with a $2,000 box price for 20.
And the box is most certainly the deal here — the attractive box doubles as a functioning humidor. If you’re hesitant to buy a full box, know that each single cigar is also protected in a hand-blown glass tube. You’ll want to keep those properly humidified, but they’ll protect these expensive sticks from nicks and scrapes until it’s time to smoke.
And smoke you should — soon. Limited editions like this are typically repeated annually, and while Plasencia hasn’t formally announced any plans for next year, you’ll want to know now if you’re going to have to start making friends to score batch two.
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