Nicaragua Cream Churchill

Despite the name, Nicaragua Cream isn't a mild Connecticut-style cigar. This Nicaraguan handmade uses a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos, including both long- and short-filler leaves. The 7.0 x 50 Churchill provides plenty of time for the blend's medium-to-full character to unfold, delivering a robust tobacco profile tempered by a welcome touch of sweetness from the cap. That sweet-and-strong combination makes cream soda an unexpectedly natural companion. Vanilla and caramel-like flavors play up the cigar's sweeter side while softening some of the darker tobacco character, and the soda's carbonation keeps the combination lively throughout the longer Churchill smoke. It's an easygoing pairing that proves a cigar doesn't always need whiskey, wine, or coffee beside it to make an interesting match.

The Nicaraguan cigar industry originated when Cuban cigar makers escaped the revolution and re-established their livelihood in Nicaragua with Cuban-seed tobacco. Blessed with dark, rich soil, their new home was ideal for tobacco cultivation and Nicaragua quickly became known for cigars that rivaled Cuban quality. Unfortunately, revolution and war came to Nicaragua in the 1980s and devastated the industry, but it’s rebounded dramatically and is once again producing tobacco considered by many to be the finest in the world.

The Esteli Valley is in many ways the heart of Nicaraguan production and is known for its very powerful and spicy tobacco. The Jalapa Valley produces arguably the finest tobacco in the country: somewhat sweeter and less intense than Esteli, but extremely complex. The tobacco of the Condega Valley is often described as a blend of the other two regions.