Flores y Rodriguez Cabinet Seleccion Habano Magicos

A small-batch production and released at the IPCPR (International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers) in 2012, the Flores y Rodriguez Cabinet Seleccion is a collaboration between Abe Flores and the Rodriguez brothers – the men at the helm of Pinar del Rio cigars. This Dominican puro is brimming with long-fillers of Dominican Vuelta Abajo tobaccos, a Dominican binder, and wrapped up in a Dominican Habano wrapper that features plenty of sheen and tooth. Tasty to the nub, this stogie will lead to dry and hearty flavors of leather, cedar, cream, pepper, and coffee. Our panel loved this handmade puro and suggested pairing this medium to full bodied smoke with a port.

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.