D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5

P.3 Cigar Almanac of 2016

P.4 A Conversation with Abe Flores

P.6 300 Hundred Hands

P.7 Now Trending

P.8 Asylum 13 Ogre

The Humidor

The Humidor is a publication of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.

Copyright 2015 ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Reprinted reviews

remain the copyright of the original publisher.

Allie Smallwood Editor

Meghan Guarino Contributing Editor

The year starts with the budget-conscious

month of January. Even with nature’s air

conditioning flowing through the open windows

and saving you dollars on your electric bill,

Christmas has just plundered your pockets and

you are in need of affordable cigar options that

still give you the feeling (just the feeling!) of winter

delight. Foundry’s Chillin Moose line of cigars is a

welcome answer to your empty wallet problems.

Ringing up at around four dollars for the easy-

smoking Gigante size, the Chillin Moose is

all about relaxation. The cartoon moose evokes

the idea of sitting in a cabin with a warm cigar

between your fingers while you ponder what

kinds of tobacco are in this super-secret blend.

When February rolls around, Oliva’s Nub Café

series is the quintessential box of chocolates for

your sweet-toothed, cigar-smoking honey. These

stout cigars are no joke; their little chocolate-like

bodies are coffee-infused and pack a punch of

deliciousness. The Macchiato Nub smells just like

milk chocolate candy and has a touch of spicy

espresso filling. If your sweetheart prefers

a stronger espresso flavor, the Espresso Nub is

a rich, flavorful cigar whose dark roasted notes

still allow a touch of sweetness to shine through.

The lightest of these delicacies is the Nub

Cappuccino, whose light wrapper makes this

cigar sweet and creamy. When your other half

wants something really special, Oliva’s Serie V

Melanio Figurado was named #1 Cigar of 2014

by Cigar Aficionado. The Melanio’s every chiseled

curve is an architectural design, and its velvety

wrapper gleams with a glowy suppleness. This

masterpiece will have your cigar lover opening

their shining box with the hope that you went to...

ABC’s humidor.

If you’re seeking some peace of mind during this

year’s March Madness and need a cigar to

Cigar Almanac of 2O16

abcfws.com

Makenzie Ladd, Certified Retail Tobacconist @abcbeermakenzie

Accented by sprinklings of cool nights and the occasional tropical storm, the residents of Florida like to joke that the year is divided up into only two

seasons: the excruciatingly hot season and the mildly not-so-hot season. The monotony of a year with two similar seasons seems banal, but Floridians

have found ways to differentiate the months with wild emphasis on celebrations, holidays and life experiences. Hurricanes are preceded by hurricane parties,

botanical gardens are strung with Christmas lights for snowless tours, and every holiday is celebrated with themed drinks and costumes and is saturated

with the dedication of making memories. While shopping for scrumptious pumpkin beer for the Thanksgiving table, liquor-fi lled chocolates for Christmas

stockings and later, drink umbrellas for the Fourth of July pool party, don’t forget about the cigars! If you’d like to pair your tobacco with the seasonal party so

that smokers attending your beat-the-heat gala have an unforgettable time, here are a few ideas.

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last through the gang’s highly-anticipated sports

party, puffing on an Asylum 13 cigar will bring

you hours of enjoyment. New to our humidors,

this cigar line boasts giant confections that will

keep you occupied even through overtime. Of

the four styles you’ll find in your ABC humidor,

the biggest of Asylum 13’s cigars is the 80x6,

a monster that will require an extra-large cutter

and some time and patience to finish. The other

sizes are a little less intimidating: the 70x7, 60x6

and 50x5, are also made with Nicaraguan filler,

and like their big brother, encased in a lovely,

dark Nicaraguan Habano wrapper that is sure

to impress your buddies. Keep your eyes peeled

around December when Asylum’s Ogre will hit the

humidor shelves in 60, 70 and 80.

The celebrations in April revolve around spring,

earth and rebirth. Whether you’re celebrating

Easter Sunday or Earth Day by lighting up a

piece of artwork made from the very soil you

celebrate, a cigar line to look for is My Father. Flor

de Las Antillas, meaning “Flower of the Antilles,”

symbolically represents the biggest island in the

Antilles, Cuba, and birthplace of cigar maker Jose

“Pepin” Garcia. The Toro in this line took the #1

Cigar of the Year from Cigar Aficionado in 2012,

and rightfully so: This lovely box-pressed cigar is

the representation of man crafting nature into a

cigar that features notes of pepper, earthiness

and wood. The cigar band art and red ribbon at

the foot of the cigar provide a presentation of

sheer elegance and cultural pride.

Following April showers, May flowers decorate

the peninsula’s landscape with a lush, tropical

synergy that draws residents of all ages to Florida

preserves, white-sand beaches and amusement

parks. Don’t forget to take some time to relax with

a cigar. Camacho’s rebranded cigar line offers

tubes in as many brilliant colors as the vegetation

you’ll pass by on your way to the local waterpark.

The Corojo Robusto, a bold cigar that leans

towards being full-bodied, is rightfully encased

by the aggressively bright, cherry red tube for

on-the-go carrying convenience. For something a

little less bold, look for the Connecticut Robusto’s

cheerful yellow tube or the orange-tubed Criollo

Robusto, which is medium-bodied and just

as exciting.

Residents willing to brave the sweltering humidity

and rising temperatures of June entertain

themselves with days at the beach, BBQs, ice-

cold beers with the neighbors, and traveling the

open road on the back of a purring motorcycle.

Drew Estate, a cigar company that has come to

symbolize innovation and independence, has

both the cigars and the attitude to traipse along

with you on your summer adventure. Whether

you decide to paddle board, swim or disc-golf

the day away, stopping for a quick bite at the

local lunch hotspot is a good time to relax with

a cigar. Anyone up for a pulled pork sandwich

and some fries? If trying to get that beach body

doesn’t allow you such greasy pleasures, the Liga

Undercrown Flying Pig and Unico Papas Fritas

can be substitutes for carb-rich fast food. Papas

Fritas is a short, dark spice-stick that will enhance

flavorful food, while the Flying Pig is a hearty,

earthy smoke that goes great with grilled meat. If

today is a backyard social at the neighbor’s, don’t

forget that the Kentucky Fire Cured cigar is a BBQ

staple, as important as the burgers or coleslaw.

Made with tobacco that is fire-cured by burning

hickory, oak and maple wood in a special curing

barn, smoking this cigar is like biting into a

piece of bacon or char-grilled steak.

The soaring summertime temperatures in

Florida turn some residents into cave-dwelling

isolationists huddled behind drawn curtains

and worshipping the almighty air conditioner.

From the mildly not-so-hot month of January to

the excruciatingly hot days of June, our Cigar

Almanac is a mere guide to your shopping

experience—don’t be afraid to play around

with different seasonal themes for your holiday

celebrations. All cigars can be your favorite cigar

if you find the perfect one to match the moment.

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Abe FloresA Conversation with

Chris Gwaltney, Certified Retail Tobacconist @abccigarchris

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Way back in June when we met with cigar

maker Abe Flores concerning his PDR cigar

line and which of his cigars we would bring into

our portfolio, we had just released our summer

edition of The Humidor. Since that meeting Abe

had the opportunity for another interview with

a much larger publication, Cigar Aficionado,

which turned into a major feature about Abe

and his PDR cigars. Abe was kind enough to

sit down with me recently and share his

thoughts about his past, his company and

his amazing cigars.

Chris Gwaltney: People in the industry have

long known about you because of the many

cigars you have made for other companies.

Many of these contract cigars have received

a lot of accolades and high ratings. Is it nice

that PDR is finally getting some recognition

for its achievements?

Abe Flores: Yes. Obviously for many years

a lot of cigars I made got top 25 ratings,

accolades and hype—cigars like the Gurkha

Ghost and the 125th—and now that I see my

own getting those ratings and respect, it makes

me a lot happier. It makes me happy that

people see that I am not just a contract brand

cigar maker.

CG: So you had to be pleased with the Cigar

Aficionado feature.

AF: For them to do that I was very surprised.

I thought that it would just be a Q and A for the

“Insider” but they sent down a photographer.

I was like, wow, for me? Are you guys sure

about this? They said, “Yeah, we think you are

interesting, you have one of the best factories

in the Dominican Republic, you are an up-and-

comer, and you make great cigars. We want

to feature you and make sure the whole world

knows who you are.”

CG: So you grew up working on a tobacco

farm, got away from it for other pursuits, and

now you are back. Is this a case of one’s past

catching up to them in a positive way?

AF: I came from farming. We weren’t producers.

We didn’t make the end product, we were

growers. I came from a 100% farming mentality.

I learned how to ferment and process tobacco

from other manufacturers.

CG: The farming aspect did have to help you

though, just knowing how good tobacco is

grown and how to pick out the good stuff.

AF: Yes, it gives me the know-how in terms

of what to buy. I don’t farm (now), I contract

farmers to grow for me and I trust them. I visit

at the beginning of the harvest, midway of

the harvest and at the end. I am able to catch

things. I am smart enough to know if it isn’t

the right seed or something isn’t right. I also

ferment and process my own tobacco so I have

better control over my blends and consistency.

CG: When someone walks into a humidor and

sees a PDR cigar what should they expect?

What makes it stand out from the many others?

AF: Everyone has their own technique, their

own style and profile. What I try to do is

implement procedures and standards that a lot

of other factories don’t. I have four QA (quality

assurance) points in my factory that a lot of

others don’t.

We draw test 100% of our cigars—that is one

point of QA. The second point of QA is the

rolling supervisors. They only supervise four

tables. They make sure the blends are being

done correctly and the rolling is being done to

my standards. That supervisor inspects every

cigar then takes it to the third (QA) point, the

QA supervisor. They re-inspect everything the

rolling supervisor approved. Then after that

it’s off to the humidor supervisor who starts

the inspection process all over again. The

possibility of a cigar not drawing correctly,

being under-filled or not blended correctly

is very low. I have a much higher standard

compared to other factories.

So there you have it folks. You now know why

ABC sells PDR cigars. In a world where quality

is often sacrificed for quantity, this is not the

case for Abe Flores and the workers at

his factory.

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3OO HANDSOscar Vazquez, Certified Retail Tobacconist

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I have always appreciated a good cigar, but my

passion started when I learned this fascinating

fact: Before a cigar reaches a store and makes its

way into our hands, it goes through a process that

takes approximately 300 hands to create the final

product. It’s a process that has seen little change

for hundreds of years.

Surrounded by rolling green hills where the

tobacco fields are located, these hands are hard

at work. Acres of fields in the Dominican Republic,

Nicaragua, Honduras and other countries are

planted with sprouts that were first cared for by

hand from seedling to sapling in the green houses.

Farmed by attentive growers, the tobacco plants

are closely monitored daily; these growers look for

smaller and underdeveloped leaves to prune. They

also remove the flower buds and use the seeds for

future plants. This helps the leaves absorb all the

nutrients until finally maturing into beautiful, green

leaves that are harvested by hands with care

and tradition.

Those at work in the casa de tabaco eagerly

welcome the fresh tobacco leaves from the field.

The casa de tabaco is a large barn where the

leaves are cured through a process where they

strap or sew the leaves onto flat wooden paddles

called cujes. They are then hung in the barn for

the curing process. These hands patiently wait

until the leaves have lost 80 percent of their water,

gaining a beautiful golden brown color in

the process.

A new set of hands take over at this point, those

that work at the factories sorting and separating

the leaves into piles for wrappers, binders and

fillers according to the quality and texture of the

leaf. Hands now bundle small bunches of these

leaves to organize for the fermentation process.

These bundles are called gavillas.

These hands add moisture and place them into

piles, waiting patiently for six months to a year.

During this time, the tobacco releases ammonia

and impurities gaining strength and flavor in

the process. These piles, or pilones as they are

known, are closely monitored by expert eyes until

they are ready to be stripped from their stems

and treated with a mojo consisting of water and

tobacco residue: The treated leaves are then placed

into the time-worn hands of the torcedores,

professional cigar rollers. These torcedores,

depending on the shape and size of a cigar, will

roll up to 150 cigars a day, and it takes many

years to become a skilled roller.

The expert hands of the torcedores carefully

bunch the filler leaves and bind them together with

a leaf with less imperfections known as the binder

leaf. The wrapped bundle is placed into a mold

and pressed to receive its cylindrical shape. It is

then wrapped with the finest, most perfect leaf,

known as the wrapper.

But before they are sent to the stores, humidors

and lounges, these cigars are thoroughly

inspected and put in an aging room, also known

as a marrying room, for another six months. The

final set of hands bands and wraps each cigar

in cellophane.

Finally, 300 hands later, we have a cigar.

After being bundled or set in a box and sent to

stores, these cigars reach our grateful hands:

numbers 301 and 302.

Brothers and sisters of the leaf, the next time

you light up your favorite cigar and enjoy it with

a fine Scotch or perhaps your favorite

wine, let us remember to raise

our glasses for a toast—a toast

to those hands and the

masterpieces they create.

This year’s International Premium Cigar & Pipe

Retailers show in New Orleans is now history,

but don’t worry: This is not a rehash of all the new

products we picked up and reviews on these great

new selections. Instead, let’s look back at what was

new and what has changed in the world of cigars.

In Twitter lingo, let’s check out what is #trending.

For the sake of simplicity I will not look at Cuban

cigars in our near future since I still see a long road

ahead before we see them on sale in American

cigar shops. Let’s focus on what we can

readily purchase.

Large format cigars (6x60 and larger) started

gaining in popularity the past few years and show

no indication of slowing down. We now see 7x70s,

6x80s and 7x62s from a multitude of companies.

Look for some Rocky Patel offerings in our stores in

the 6x60 size and even the 7x62 size. Asylum 13,

which was wildly popular in our stores last year, will

now have their Ogre Barber Pole join them. Large

format cigars are here to stay and the variety keeps

growing and the quality keeps improving!

This year also brought about the resurgence of

the Connecticut Shade wrapper. Many companies

introduced a variety of offerings with either

true Connecticut Shade or Ecuadorian grown

Connecticut. Padron shook up the cigar world by

breaking away from its longtime traditions and

introducing Padron Damaso which features a

Connecticut wrapper on a first-ever rounded cigar!

Drew Estate launched the Undercrown Shade,

Montecristo launched the White Vintage series

with a true Connecticut Shade wrapper vintage

2008, and AJ Fernandez introduced the New World

Connecticut after the great reviews the

New World received this past year.

There was also a great deal of collaboration this

past year in cigars, a trend I expect to continue.

In many cases this is a best-of-both-worlds

scenario. Altadis USA is the major player in this right

now with their Montecristo Espada in collaboration

with the Plasencia family. Romeo by Romeo y

Julieta Aging Room Small Batch did a collaboration

with Rafael Nodal, and Henry Clay Tattoo with Pete

Johnson of Tatuaje. Having smoked all of these

I must say I was highly impressed and hope to

see more of these joint efforts in the future.

The revitalization of older labels was also noted

this year. General Cigar and their Foundry division

brought back two classic blends in a retooled,

reblended and totally reworked package. Bolivar

and Ramon Allones are their first two ventures into

“cigars reimagined” and much like the Henry Clay

version mentioned above, this will be an interesting

new trend.

Last but not least in our #trending journey is what

I see as perhaps the most exciting venture yet by

several manufacturers: bourbon barrel aged cigars.

For these sticks, tobacco leaves are packed into

an aged bourbon barrel for a period of time and

constantly removed and relayered to pick up all the

nuances of a charred oak barrel that previously

held bourbon. Pappy Van Winkle Cigars and the

Camacho American Barrel Aged are two great

examples of this exciting new style. Having smoked

and enjoyed the charred oak, caramel, vanilla and

bourbon flavors in both, I am looking forward to

the future of this new style.

Look out for more large format smokes, more

Connecticut wrappers, more collaborations and

revitalizations, and more barrel aged cigars over the

next few years. The cigar world is an exciting place

to be right now as new generations of smokers

come on board with new and changing palates.

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Now TrendingSteve Mungeer, Certified Retail Tobacconist @abccigarmungo

8989 South Orange Ave.

Orlando, Florida 32824

The

Hum

idor

With a name like Asylum you know that this cigar has

to be crazy good, right? When I hear the word Asylum,

my first thoughts aren’t that of a place of peaceful

tranquility, but rather a chaotic scene from a horror

movie where the inmates run the place. To add an extra

degree of weirdness to this label our friends at CLE

also offer this cigar in an Ogre version.

The appearance of the Ogre will tell you right away how

they came up with the name. It is a beautiful barber

pole wrapped cigar that includes a gorgeous green

wrapper to go along with the Nicaraguan Habano.

There just aren’t a lot of Candela cigars available these

days so this is a great one to pick up if you’ve never

experienced it. The Candela actually lends a bit of

sweetness to the palate but make no mistakes about it,

this cigar is full-bodied. There are many complex

flavors in the Ogre and each size offers a little

different variation.

Asylum 13 Ogre

Buy six or more sticks at regular price and save 10%!

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