By far the strongest cigar tobacco being grown is in the Esteli region of Nicaragua; the strongest leaf there is not the ligero, as most think, but the medio tiempo, a leaf so potent that it just about knocked out four souls who sampled it by itself on the Hernandez Bros. tour.

Next is the Jalapa region in Nicaragua; slightly less powerful than Esteli leaf but still powerful.

Honduras tobacco tends to just be very rough, both in taste and in texture. For the most part Scott is right—it can be a chore to smoke, as in the Humo Jaguar, which I found harsh. But George Rico's Gran Habano is making some yummy cigars out of Honduran leaf, sample them if you get a chance.

Mexico...what can you say. I wouldn't smoke anything made in Mexico nor made with Mexican leaf.

But the guys are right: the joy of discovery lies in experimentation. Smoke for yourself.
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I'm not really that experianced, but I'll share my little knowledge. Keep in mind, a cigar tastes different to every person that tastes it.

Nicaraguan, so far, is my favorite. Sometimes they beat me down with vitamin N, but they taste really deep.

Dominicans are spicy and almost...sweet(?) I really like the Dominican. The only problem, to me, is that I haven't had one that really excited me.

Hondurans, I've smoked 2. Both of them sucked. I'm really closed off to them now...which is probably bad. They were both just...gross.

Counter acting my point above, one of my favorite smokes is the MOW Ruination. If my memory is right, that stick is Honduran and Nicaraguan. Either way...it's soooo good. Puro Hondurans just don't float my boat
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Wait a minute...I had a Gran Habano that I really enjoyed. It was a cedar wrapped one. So good I bought two. I guess that's Honduran?
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Isn't the Padron Anniversary Maduro wrapper from Mexico? I would smoke those.
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Very good post!
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No. It's grown in Nicaragua at their farms. Just like all their other tobacco.
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To be fair, there are some smokes out there that have a Mexican maduro wrapper that I enjoy. But all in all I agree with this.
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I've heard that rumor of Mexican wrapper being spread around too

I always asumed it was just that...rumor
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I didn't know it was a rumor, I thought it had been advertised as such. Shows how much I know.

EDIT: I found where I read it, Cigars International had the Nica Libre listed as a San Andres maduro leaf just like the Padron Anniversary. I had no prejudice towards Mexican tobacco so I just assumed they it as truth. I did not see it as a dig to Padron.
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It's one of those that never seems to die either.


It might very well have been advertised as such, accidentally.

Kind of like what happened with the Liga Privada No.9's. Due to a press error, they were originally billed as having Dominican tobacco in the filler. There isn't any Dominican tobacco in there, never has been, and even though the error was corrected pretty quickly, that one little bit of misinformation keeps popping up all over the place on the internet, even today, many years after it was corrected.

Certainly not your fault bro.
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I guess actually it was from Cigar.com

http://cigarreviews.wordpress.com/20...rom-cigar-com/
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I think what they meant was that the tastes appear similar to them.

I'm not seeing that in their current ad copy on the website right now, but I can easily see them as having written one thing and meant another, they work pretty fast over there and most people wear multiple hats, so things sometimes slip by and end up getting corrected later when someone points it out.
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http://www.cigar.com/cigars/viewCigar.asp?brand=745

They say "almost identical", cleverly deceptive :-)
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Albert, you don't need to defend yourself over the issue, I was just simply correcting the information, not accusing you of anything.

Anyway, that blogger is mistaken. Shocking.

Cigar.com's website does leave quite a bit of room for misinterpretation though:
"Rolled with a dark, oily San Andres maduro wrapper (almost identical to the wrapper used on Padron's Anniversary Maduro)"

It's a different strain of tobacco, grown in a different country, processed differently. "Almost identical" my ass.
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In that particular case they're trying to get you to buy the Nica Libre as an inexpensive alternative to Padrons.

Hint: They're not

:-)
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I would guess that to someone over there, they taste similar. I don't think they do, but I don't have a warehouse with 100,000 Nica Libres in it that I need to sell yesterday.
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If you close your eyes and pinch your nose, I heard The Gurkha Viper taste just like a Padron 26th maduro. Tom will vouch for this as well.
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I need to stop reading cigar catalogs while in the bathroom. I will now go back to CCs and leave the NC world alone.
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:-):-):-)

NC cigar catalogs can be a ton of fun to read, especially when they start laying it on thick.
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MMMM....Gurkha Viper. Scrumptuous.
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