Devil’s Weed Dark Brew Coffee Maduro Belicoso

With coffee blends starting to saturate the cigar the market we’ve gotten a little fatigued, but this one grabbed our attention. The Devil’s Weed Coffee line comes in two styles, dark maduro and natural habano; the one you have in your shipment today is the dark and it’s tasty! Hailing from the famed Pinar del Rio in the Dominican Republic, this mild to medium smoke has a dark, toothy, and slightly sweetened Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper that gently hugs a Nicaraguan binder and a bevy of Nicaraguan long-fillers. When lit, expect complex notes of chocolate, black pepper, and a sultry coffee core. Even though this coffee smoke pairs perfectly with your favorite cup of joe, our panel also recommended pairing it with your favorite hefeweizen on a sunny fall afternoon.

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.