Sergio at the pilones
Testing the leaf texture
Another day dawns in Esteli, rooster announced and breakfast hearty. There was plenty of Twin Engine coffee courtesy of the lovely Andrea, which is Mrs. Ganley to you. Andrea is pioneering a boutique coffee company (shameless plug!) which will be coming soon to a fine mercantile establishment near you.
Tuesday was dedicated to cigars. Nothing else would matter or could matter. The lion's share of the day was devoted to the Plasencia Cigar factory. This Cuban family has been in the cigar business for five generations, three of them in Nicaragua. The company started in Cuba, moved to Nicaragua in the late 1960's. The Plasencia Company, again caught in the tide of a revolution, moved to Honduras following the Sandinista victory and ensuing nationalization of businesses. When the political climate mellowed, the company returned to Nicaragua, building the present factory in Esteli.
Our little group was warmly welcomed by our host Sergio, a cousin to the Plasencia family. We were gently guided through the factory, gathering more and more information at each stop. We dug our hands deep into fermenting pilones of tobacco, feeling the difference between 110 degree and 120 degree hands of leaves. I rolled the elastic leaves of viso over my fingers, pulling them tight like a second skin. The fermenting floor foreman showed me how to properly bury my entire face in a hand of leaves to get the full bouquet, an imperative tool for gauging the characteristics of various tobacco types. Here again were the seco, viso and ligero leaves, all from the same tobacco plant, but cut from the lower, middle or upper of the plant. The tobacco varies both by the priming, or height of cutting, the region it is grown, and the type of seed used. The resulting variety of tobacco is astounding and this is just the leaves grown in the four main regions nearby. When all of the other tobaccos from Honduras, Costa Rica, the United States, Africa, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, the possibilities become truly astounding.
The many types of tobacco, their flavours and characteristics, would come to the fore later in the morning as we attempted to blend our own cigars. Yes, true enough, the day included expert guidance in concocting our own personally blended cigar, which would then be rolled to our specifications by on of the expert rollers.
Continuing from fermentation, we tried sorting and de-veining, learned about the Plasencia organic program, from which has risen the first USDA approved organic cigar, an organic certification that has to be renewed ever year.
I was in a much more relaxed mental state, able to soak up the massive amount of information that was being imparted to us. We moved from hall to hall in the factory, circling the central fountain and courtyard. As the morning waned, we squeezed into the blending room to throw down heavy, sweet Cuban coffee and begin our apprenticeship to cigar blends.
The challenge was either to build a cigar from a specific wrapper or binder, working from a known ingredient towards a flavour and strength profile, or the opposite approach of choosing a desired flavour and strength profile and choosing ingredients based on that. I chose the latter approach. My desired profile was a cigar that had a full body of strength with a flavour base of spiciness tempered with sweet notes. Easy, no? Just start grabbing some leaves and squashing them together. Not quite.
When in doubt, get a ringer. In my case, it was Julian Plasencia, so my bases were well covered. To achieve a particular profile, one has to chose the wrapper (Capa), the binder (Banda) and the filler (Liga). The dominant flavour notes come from the Capa and Banda while the filler provides the subtler flavours and strength as well as the combustibility. The Liga is further broken down into its component parts, usually ligero for strength, viso for flavour and seco for combustibility.
Heads were bent earnestly over writing pads as the basic format was laid out for us by Sergio. We then set about deciding on our goals and being aided by the team of Sergio, Collin and Julian. Bundles of leaves were examined for texture, aroma and appearance and blends started to go down onto paper. Julian was a huge help, guiding me through choices while carefully listening to all of my questions and validating my goals. After a few twists and turns, including a small percentage change suggested by our expert roller, I watched my formula land on the rolling station.
Esteli ligero, Jalapa Viso, Condega Viso and Jalapa Seco were searched for and found, My materials were laid out and the roller went to work, quickly transforming an idea into a beautiful robusto. It was magic, and I was allowed to play a small part in it. More importantly, I gained a huge wealth of usable knowledge about how and why a cigar is blended a certain way. For me, this day was the real deal.
With everyone's cigars a reality, we adjourned for a lunch of Cuban sandwiches in the workers open air cafeteria. Sergio and Julian managed a few bites when they weren't being bombarded by our well-meaning questions. Admirable hosts indeed.
The day was young and there was more to do, but that is the subject of another post.
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