Sunday, October 29 2006
Rocky Patel fans might be scratching their heads wondering why a new
Vintage series was introduced, especially one with a lighter-bodied
Connecticut wrapper. But with the debut of the new
1999 Vintage Connecticut, Senior Sales Executive Patrick Vivalo noted that there was a niche to be filled.
"Rocky Patel offers a spectrum of fuller-bodied cigars, [so] we felt a need to produce a mild cigar with the flavor and character one has become accustomed to when smoking our product," said Vivalo.
"The 1999 is unique and complex in character, with great construction," he noted. "The cigar is well packed to ensure a smooth draw and a consistently even burn. Hence when Rocky found this seven-year-old Connecticut wrapper, we decided to launch a brand that is mild yet flavorful and complex."
The aged wrapper came from the General Cigar warehouse and was the oldest wrapper leaf that General was willing to part with. It's teamed with an aged Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan-grown filler leaves, also seven years old.
Patel was thinking about this cigar even while his Vintage 1990, Vintage 1992 and The Edge by Rocky Patel blends took off and have become nationally recognized. The project began about two years ago and the final blend took about 18 months to refine. All of the 1999 Vintage are also aged for at least 120 days after rolling.
The line comes in seven sizes, quite familiar to fans of the other Vintage lines: Churchill (7 x 48), Petite Corona (4 1/2 x 44), Robusto (5 1/2 x 50), Toro (6 1/2 x 52), Torpedo (6 1/4 x 52), Sixty (6 x 60) and Perfecto (4 x 48). All are offered in boxes of 20.
Habanos S.A. released the limited-edition Cohiba Behike last week in ceremonies in Madrid on October 19. The massive 7 1/2-inch by 52-ring double corona was made in a limited edition of just 4,000 cigars, offered in 100 humidors of 40 made by the French masters at Elie Bleu.
Besides its pedigree as the 40th anniversary cigar of the Cohiba line and the most expensive cigar Cuba has ever offered (about $440 a stick at current exchange rates), it's also unusual because all 4,000 cigars were made by one person: Norma Fernandez of the El Laguito factory outside Havana.
Fernandez, who told the Reuters news service that she has been a roller for 39 years, also developed the blend for the Behike, but declined to reveal any details during the launch last Thursday. She was selected from among the senior rollers at El Laguito to be the sole maker of the Behike.
The phrase "Close but no cigar" is reported to have originated in carnival games around the turn of the 20th Century, but it especially applies to the November 21 Alabama-Tennessee football game held in Knoxville.
The Tide and the Volunteers have been arch-rivals for years and a long-time tradition at Alabama has been to hand out victory cigars to the players after a victory. Reporter Josh Cooper, writing in the Decatur (Al.) Daily, quoted Tide senior fullback Tim Castille prior to the game: "I want another one, to have two when I leave."
Alabama was an underdog coming into the game, but led into the fourth quarter before losing, 16-13. Close, but no cigars.
Asked about the tradition, Ben Blevins of the Alabama sports information staff declined to give any details, such as what brand or brands would have been given to the players, citing the NCAA's anti-tobacco policies. Another tradition, up in smoke.
Short fillers: Cuban news media reported that the planting season officially began on October 23 on about 35,000 hectares (roughly 86,485 acres), mostly located in the Pinar del Rio province at the far western edge of Cuba . . . while the tobacco season is just getting underway in Cuba, it's rest time in the Windsor Valley in Connecticut, home of some of the world's best shade-grown wrapper leaf. In the 1930s, there were 30,000 acres of shade tobacco grown in Connecticut; today, it's less than 2,000 acres and inquiries pile in non-stop asking farmers to sell their land for development. The tobacco season in Connecticut runs from May to September, with all of the planting completed by the end of May. For now, the tobacco season is over. The farmers are busy, though . . . selling pumpkins for Halloween! . . . find our latest tasting review, of six blends of the Camacho line, in our News & Views archives.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Reprinted by permission.
Copyright 2006; All rights reserved.
