Arganese UNO Puro

Arganese cigars may not be a household name yet, but Gene Arganese didn’t intend it to be. After a long and successful career as a real estate developer, his passion for cigars turned into a hobby as he started making cigars for his own enjoyment and later for friends and family. After his friends, family, and clients began calling him to beg him for more, he found some people that would make his cigars in Santiago, Dominican Republic part-time and have 500 cigars made for his personal use in 2005. After a short time, he was making more than 500 and his part-time workers told him that he either needed to stick to the 500 cigars or make this a full-time career. He did his research and found some of the best people in the business, including Simon Bolivar who has over 30 years experience as a master blender, Cristobol Vasquez who is the factory manager and has been in the cigar business for years, and to round out the team, Gustavo Peña who is known as one of the best growers in the area. Together, the four of them purchased a new factory and Arganese Cigars was born in 2007.

Included in the “Best of the Best” from the Robb Report, the Arganese UNO Puro is a true puro hailing from the Dominican Republic. This behemoth is created using carefully selected Dominican tobaccos that are lightly infused with Cognac and then aged to perfection. This unique medium to full smoke is complex, rich, and powerful with subtle peppery overtones and hints of Cognac, and it is exceedingly smooth and balanced. Our panel recommended pairing it with an Old Fashioned.

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.