Oliveros’s president, Rafael Nodal, specializes in limited short-batch cigars made from very good and very rare tobaccos that are available in quantities too low for most brand’s production quotas. In 2012, Nodal created a spinoff company called Boutique Blends Cigars which features his Aging Room and Oliveros cigar lines as well as his other line, Swag Cigars. The Oliveros Gran Retorno Maduro Swing (Gran Retorno translates to Grand Return) is one of the three cigars in the Retorno line. This puro comes with a bevy of long-fillers, a zesty binder, and a gorgeous maduro wrapper all from Nicaragua. Medium to full in body, expect consistent but complex notes of coffee, cocoa, earth, and leather, with hints of spice. Try a porter to accompany this smoke.
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.
Outstanding Values On Top-Rated Cigars
Our purchasing power allows us to offer exceptional reorder values on highly rated
cigars such as
Rocky Patel's Decade Torpedo, rated 95 in Cigar Aficionado.