Just got back from a few days in Esteli Nicaragua on the Cigar Safari w/ Jonathan Drew.
Best. Cigar. Trip. EVAR.
A quick rundown...
We all few in from Miami and were met at the airport by Pedro, our tour gude and and one of Jons upper empolyees in Nicaragua. The moment we all hop into the Ratmobile (tour bus) Pedro is handing out refreshments (sodas, water, beer) and T52s, LP9s, JdNs, Tabak Especials, whatever you want - he has boxes of it on the bus.
A quick rundown on the history of Nicaragua and off to a fantastic restruant with an open serving area overlooking a huge volcanic lake - just a phenomenal view and great food (everything is included - you pay for nothing except any sovineers that you may choose to buy at local stores). Back into the Ratmobile and more cigars and a trip to one of the active volcanos which helped to create the wonderfull black soil of the area which is responsible for growing some of the finest tobaccos in the world.
We arive at Drew Estates factory and Jonathan is there to greet us and inform us that he has "some great surprises" planned for us. We get settled into our rooms and head up to the lounge to enjoy some cigars and drinks before dinner, and after we've been up there for a bit, one of Jon's surprises walks through the door... Jeorge Padron and he's carrying a bundle of his cigars for us to enjoy (in addition to all the cigars that Jon is supplying) over the next few days. Jeorge stays through dinner and for a few hours after, just talking and hanging out with us all the while.
Next morning, we're off to Don Pepin's My Father factory and guess who is there to greet us...
Pete Johnson with a bundle of Tatuaje Black Petite Robustos. How frickin' cool is that?
(It was supposed to be a surprise but Pete posted it on facebook before we got there...)
We head off to Pepin's tobacco fields and since there is no tobacco in the ground yet, Pete is walking us trough the tents where the seeds are started and about 1/3 of the way through this, the man himself, Don Pepin comes walking up behind us with a giant smile on his face. He takes us through the process and out into one of the fields, explaining all the intricacies and then off to another one of his fields, where we got the Ratmobile stuck (someone has a photo of Jon pushing the bus, I'll have to look for it later). Then back to the My Father factory where Pepin walked us through every part of the operation and damn near every room. Never once did I see that man without a smile on his face, he was so happy to share his love with us because of our passion.
Back to DE for Lunch and then off to a very special factory. No other factory in Nicaragua could hold the honor and distinction of where we were going next. Joya de Nicaragua, over 40 years of history, pride and tradition all in, what is now, one small building (at one time it was the largest factory in the country). Mario (JdN's general manager) took us through the whole operation, showing us some of the unique things about JdN. Watching Jon take a experimental Antanio cigar (based on some changes he sugguested) fresh from the rollera's table, light it and his eyes and expression just screamed "BOO-YAH!". Jon asks Mario we could all get some and next thing you know, all of us are standing there on the rolling floor of JdN totally in awe of this cigar just rolled seconds before that we are all smoking. Then Mario taking us into the confrence room at the end of the tour and showing us some fantastic history and then asking us if we had any comments or thoughts for JdN and he meant it. One brother sugguesated coronas in the the new cigar we just tried, and, get this, totally unknown to us, Mario shows up the next night at dinner at DE carring bundles of the JD tweaked Antanio in corona size for us. If that isn't the ultimate in cool, nothing is.
So, back to Thursday night, we get back to DE and head up to the lounge before dinner and Pete walks through the door and starts handing out La Verite 2009s (yes, 2009s!). Don Pepin and Pete join us for dinner. Pepin heads home, Pete stays with us, and we all head off to a local nightclub and meet up with Jeorge Padron again.
The next morning, we're off to the Padron factory where Jeorge had something really special for us and gives us the tour of the factory, a small section of his fields, he shows us his padron peppers grown on the Padron farm for making the hot sauce that will come with the Padron 47ths (ok, the peppers are real but it's only like 20 plants, but we were joking about a Padron hot sauce made with padron peppers being included with certain boxes). Just an amazing operation he has there.
Back to DE and time for a tour of Jon's factory and more. Nintey six thousand square feet of factory space. 96,000... That's the size of Home Depot or Lowes... That's huge... and, it's not big enough...
Jon shows us the factory, tells us stories, just lets his love and passion for it all come through. This is a man who about 15 years ago, showed up in Nicaragua with a paper bag of money, passion and a dream and desire to make cigars and it all comes through. And through that, we saw some some really cool things about his cigars and how no one else is doing anything like what he showed us.
Then, we go into one of the confrence rooms and Jon starts puttig piles of tobacco out on the table - lots of piles, I mean a lot of freaking piles... Hands us some sheets with descriptions, and gives us a bit of instruction and it's time for us to blend our own cigars now. Pick the vitola, go through the tobaccos with what you have experienced and learned over the past two days, pick your filler blend, pick your capa and capote (wrapper and binder) and they'll make 10 of them for you. Maybe your cigar will flop, maybe it will be good, maybe it will be more than good, way more than good. You never know, but it will always be YOUR cigar. And they keep your blend cards on file forever so that more could be made if needed. How cool is that? (and, yes, cuz, if my blend works, I'm thinking about calling it the Strangled Hamster).
Then we got to see Jesse Flores's operation. Subculture studios. Jesse is responsible for all the artwork and designs, and he's damn good at it, and he surrounds himself with people like him, passionate former street artists whose creativity seem to know no bounds. And, get this, he gives each of us a custom silkscreened shirt - no two are alike. Damn cool in my book...
Oh, and check this, Pete joined us AGAIN for dinner, along with Mario from JdN, where he gave us the cigars that he blended and had made overnight for us just based on one BOTLs comment.
We didn't just meet cigar makers, we got to know them. We didn't just tour factories, we saw what makes them special and unique. We didn't just see cigars being made, we saw care, love and pride being rolled.
It just don't get any better than that. To borrow a line from the skipper (who was on this trip and whom some of you might know Tom from other boards) "It was like taking a cool drink from a firehose..."
I went on the trip to see cigars and their factories, what I saw was so much more... I saw a little bit of what drives Pete, I saw Pepin's secret, I saw what makes JdNs JdNs, I saw why Jeorge Padron is such a cool customer, with all the style, grace and ease of the greatest golfer, and I really saw the passion that drives my friend Jonathan.
I went to Nicaragua expecting to learn something about cigars, I walked away with so much more.
(I'm in LoCal for another 5 days, once I get back home I'll get some photos posted)
[Reply]
:-) The funny thing is, you deserved this trip.
