Boutique Roling

One cigar, one box!  Meet the giant Cro-Magnon.  Don't try smoking this at home Kids!

A man and his cigar.  You damn Skippy it was good.

So by now you may have figured out that this tour is really about cigars and not so much about Nicaragua. In truth, I am learning a lot more about the cigar industry in Nicaragua than I am about the country itself. Wednesday morning we moved to a modernist cube of a hotel in Esteli proper, which should afford more solo walk-about.

But now, back into our time machine, since I am still working on Tuesday.......

Tuesday afternoon was an illustration of the small scale after a morning spent with the large. The Plasencia factory primarily rolls cigars for other companies. Although they turn out some cigars bearing their own label band, particularly the Plasencia organic, their main function is that of a hired gun. Many cigar "makers" don't really make cigars. A large cigar brand like Alec Bradley will come to the factory, work with the Plasencia crew to come up with a blend, roll some test cigars, let them age and smoke them and then tweak the blend. Once everyone is satisfied with the prototype, the new cigar will be slated for rolling under contract to the Plasencia factory. The development process takes up to a year or more. Plasencia is a very large operation and rolls cigars for many brands in both the USA and European markets.

Tuesday afternoon we slipped into a quiet side street of Esteli for a look at a boutique cigar operation. Much to the joy of folks like our merry Bozos, artisan cigar crafting is a vibrant movement, with small "factories" springing up in Esteli and elsewhere. When I say factory, it is worthwhile noting that this next stop was not much bigger than my modest ranch house.

Skip Martin, an American, is the proprietor of this Lean-Principle oriented shop. Along with his partner, their shop turns out a small number of premium cigars under the RoMa Craft Tobac banner. These cigars are given such great names as the Cro-Magnon, the Neanderthal and the Aquitaine. In this world of two degrees of separation, Skip Martin has close ties to Lake Union Cigar Society in Seattle which has been the site of many a fine gather for our crew.

This is the other side of the coin. Tobacco is not dried or fermented here. It is purchased from other farms and suppliers and fermented off-site, supervised by RoMa Craft staff. The tobacco leaf is brought onto the shop floor for on demand rolling as the inventory is kept to an almost on demand level. This cuts down on the amount of space required for the building itself.

Skip and his crew produce some fine cigars at an intimate level. There is not really any "touring" in the sense that one can see all of the floor by standing in one spot. We spent most of our time talking about what goes into running a small cigar factory and about worker incentives.

One amazing sight at the shop was the giant Cro-Magon. Meant as a display only cigar, this huge monster, which is un-smokable by humans, was being turned out at the back of the shop. I'm not saying no one has tried to smoke this thing, but Skip asserts that it is physically impossible to draw enough air through it to keep it lit.

Later in the evening, much later, Skip was part of the last brigade at our courtyard hotel, keeping the lamps lit late, if not the Cro-Magnon giant.

Back at the hotel, after the Mariachi Attack was repelled, I got a chance to smoke my personally blended cigar, the Marco's Puro Prima #1. Gotta say, damn fine stick.

Tomorrow: Coffee Explorations!