A non-premium cigar is made of short filler tobaccos. Most of the time these are machine made. Some have homogenized wrappers. Some are flavored. None have a lot of time invested in them.

A premium cigar on the hand has long filler tobacco. Wrapper, Binder and filler. A Non-Premium cigar is wrapper and short filler. There is a lot of care that goes into creating a cigar whether premium or not. At the end of it all we cover the aspect of smoking a cigar and enjoying it. For a minute or 3 hours, its buyers choice.

In this episode we talk about homogenized tobacco, machine made cigars, short filler vs long filler, taste and body.

If there are words or terms that you’re unfamiliar within this episode, we highly recommend you check out the Sunday Cigar Glossary.

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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast App and don’t forget to rate the show.

Cigar Details

Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican

Rafael Nodal is a classically trained musician and has created a few cigars to reflect his love for music. He brought his energy to the forefront in the La Boheme a cigar named after the famous opera. The Number 12 cigar of the year in 2015 is a great partnership with Blender Jochi Blanco out of the Dominican Republic.

Rafa was in New York without telling anyone in the industry and happened to drop in on the Town house. When he did I happened to be smoking his cigar. A genuine coincidence that lead into a friendship. He was so taken back by the fact that I was smoking his cigar in a place that barely carried anything close. We stayed close and years later he gifted me the small format in the La Boheme. I aged the cigars and brought them along on a trip to Reggae fest in Austin Texas. By day two of the festival all the cigar smokers back stage were smoking the La Boheme and raving about it. It was small enough to not be overly committing and good enough to want to start.

I saw Rafaa couple months ago and we were able to catch up. Nothing like a small cigar with a Giant Flavor profile.

In this episode I say Room 101 instead of Aging Room, my bad. Aside from that, we talk about a crowd pleaser cigar, combustion, taste, small formats and time with a cigar.

Cigar Details

Wrapper: Ecuador Summatra
Binder: Costa Rican
Filler: Costa Rican/Nicaraguan

I spent a lot of time smoking unbanned cigars, honing in on understanding flavor without knowing where the tobacco was from who made it or how much it costs. There were times that the name of the cigar didn’t matter for better or for worse. Every so often I was given a prototype to smoke for something that wouldn’t hit the market till much later. The Panamericana was love at first smoke. A cigar so good that it made me drool. I couldn’t believe how good it was and even thought it was a fluke. I only understood how good it was after the second time I smoked it and of course drooled. I could not believe it. It was supposed to be a limited edition for a one time release.

I believe the consensus of everyone who smoked it was that this needed to be part of the core production. Thank goodness for a communal opinion. This became my all-time favorite Nat Sherman Cigar and I would smoke this on every vacation I went on since its release.

Sumatra tobacco originated in Indonesia and has a natural sweetness that is unmatched in any wrapper in the world. This seed varietal grows very well in Ecuador and has become a successful substitute. Oily and a great start to a blend. Costa Rican tobacco tends to be expensive and usually only used for a component or two in a cigar. Costa Rican tobacco has a sweet and salty flavor profile during combustion and it plays really well with Summatra.

The Epicure size is a tall robusto that burns so evenly that the ash sticks even through the half way mark.

In this episode we talk about the Nat Sherman Panamericana, salivary affects, prototypes becoming an on the market cigar, creating a blend, time playing a role in a cigar, choosing a blend, bleeding a your lighter, Pre-Embargo Cigars, inexpensive good cigars, aromatics in a cigar, putting down a cigar, putting out a cigar and combustion.

If there are words or terms that you’re unfamiliar within this episode, we highly recommend you check out the Sunday Cigar Glossary.

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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast App and don’t forget to rate the show.