PSyKo Seven Maduro Robusto

The Venture Cigar Company is a relatively new cigar brand that is breaking boundaries in the industry. The PSyKo Seven is their flagship and is your ticket to escape the mundane and ‘medicate your mind.’ The very first thing you will notice when looking at the PSyKo Seven is the prescription form that lists a six-country blend of seven different tobaccos and is signed by “El Diablo Blanco.” Starting from the inside, there is a complex blend of Peruvian Pelo de Oro, Dominican Hybrid, Nicaraguan Ligero, Honduran Holancha Seco, and Pennsylvania Lancaster Ligero. Next is a Mexican Sumatra (specifically Hybrid 151) binder, and the cigar is finished with a gorgeous San Andrés maduro wrapper. Full in flavor and in body, this complex smoke features bold notes of raisin, cherry, pepper, cream, fruit, leather, chocolate, and coffee. Not only did we love this smoke, so did Cigar Aficionado who gave this smoke a well-deserved 90 rating. So ‘medicate your mind’ and pair it with a black coffee.

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.