Alpha Absinthe Infused Connecticut Robusto

Founded in 2014, Alpha Cigar Company has hit the ground running with the premium cigars they have been making. Their debut cigar is a knockout winner and its what you have in your shipment today. Using the traditional entubar method of rolling (a method that assures each leaf burns at the same rate—and long given up by most manufacturers as too labor intensive), this unique smoke features a core of Dominican and Nicaraguan Cuban seed Piloto Cubano leaves that are hugged by a native Dominican Olor Dominicano leaf and finished with a gorgeously aged Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. What makes this smoke so unique is that one single leaf in each smoke is infused with premium French Absinthe. Mild to medium in body, expect notes of hay and light spiciness with hints of pine and citrus. You’ll also get botanical subtleties from the fifteen different herbs used in the absinthe, especially in the retrohale. This smoke is mild enough for any time of day but our panel said that a margarita is the perfect drink to pair this with!

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.