While in Barbados on our honeymoon, my wife and I took the opportunity to visit the Caribbean Cigar Company, makers of Royal Barbados and Sam Lord cigars. We were told the Royal Barbados cigars are Cuban puros, and the Sam Lords are Cuban filler, Cameroon binder, and an Ecuadorian maduro wrapper. I picked up a fiver of the Sam Lords and, while I didn't pick up anything distinctly Cuban, it had a very unique and delicious taste (in all fairness, the ones I bought were palmas, so the narrow RG would result in very little Cuban filler).

The factory tour wasn't really a tour--my wife and I were free to wander around the factory floor at will, talking to the rollers and taking pictures as we went. It was really an interesting experience--now, the pictures!

Two angles of the small factory:
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The packaging:
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One of the rollers showing one of the molds. She used that black device on the right to help roll the cigar:
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The binder leaf:
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Short filler ready to go in. The filler was mostly long filler, but some short filler was used to fill in the holes:
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The roller works her magic:
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The finished product!
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Bags of short filler:
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Long filler, binder, and wrapper leaves packaged and lying flat:
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It was very different from what I expected, but my expectations were based on reading reports of visits to much larger factories in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua (e.g., Fuente, etc.). It was kind of cool that we could just walk around and talk to the factory workers. They were all very nice and very willing to demonstrate their craft. It was a great experience!

And a few bonus pictures of our wedding/honeymoon!

The wedding, me reading my vows to Christine:
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The cigars I packed to take along on the trip:
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The view from our honeymoon suite:
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A friend I made on the beach while smoking a Bolivar Lonsdale!
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Great pics Jesse!!!

The pic of your new friend isn't showing!
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:-)
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Awesome Jess. Thanks for sharing.
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Great pics Jesse...thanks for sharing. :-)
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Here's me with my friend! :-)
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Anytime I was smoking on the beach, one of these guys popped up at my side saying, "you lookin' for some of de stronger stuff, mon?" :-)
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Who is that? Flavor Flav? :-) :-) :-)
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Where's his clock??? :-)
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He's on vacation...left the clock at home. :-) :-)
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Great pics, thanks!
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Yeeeeeah Booooooy!
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Looks like an awesome trip.

I'd love to go to one of those resorts where the pool as the bar in it.
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great experience!
congrats on your wedding!
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Looks awesome!! Can't beat it for a way to get married.

I do have to razz you on your attire, Jesse - I see you wore your favorite shirt and favorite shorts at the same time. :-)
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Great pics, and sounds like a cool adventure.

Your wife is beautiful and it looks like it was an amazing trip.

Congrats!
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Congrats to you and your wife!

Thanks for the pics of the cigar factory, too. Very cool!
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Congratulations and thanks for sharing!!!
Looks like a great time!
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Looked like a wonderful day for a wedding and may it last many years!
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