Interview with Gustavo Garcia Bello

[adic88]

A Partagas master roller, Senhor Gustavo was in KL recently, and i went over to see him to have a chat, and taste some of his cigars. He rolled a fantastic robusto extra for me that will long live in my memory; spicy, creamy and powerful.

Besides the cigar, he provided an interesting insight and reality check i wanted to share with the community.

http://mycigarblog.org/blog/?p=2375

Like a maestro, careful, methodological and purposeful, Senhor Gustavo put together cigars made to order by an appreciative audience. Corona gordas, robustos (his personal favourite), pyramides and even the artful panatelas rolled off his desk in magnificent form. It never ceases to amaze me to watch the transformation of a bunch of wrinkled dried leaves into a stick of subtle art.

The person next to me asked, “What makes him a ‘master’?”

I replied, “It’s in the consistency. A master is not only adept in all the critical vitolas, including the extremely difficult diademas, but he is able to make 100, even 1,000 sticks of each that look, feel, draw and smoke exactly the same as each other. It’s a lot more difficult than it sounds, believe me. That is what a master makes.”

Continued...

Also check out the video of his art.

[OZCUBAN]

Great post Aizuddin

Wow I always love watching ,these master rollers in action ,to me they are more like Miastros To watch his fingers Dance around the the Cigar is pure joy to watch ,creating something out of virtually nothing

Thanks for posting ,and good to see u back here again

Cheers OZ

[CptKloss]

great video to watch... interesting, when he tears off the portion of the bunch, most of the leftover leaves go to the foot of the cigar... so that the composition/ratio of the blend really differs depending on where in a cigar you are. seems like a plausible explanation to why some of the cigars flavors "change"...

[adic88]

Great post Aizuddin

Wow I always love watching ,these master rollers in action ,to me they are more like Miastros To watch his fingers Dance around the the Cigar is pure joy to watch ,creating something out of virtually nothing

Thanks for posting ,and good to see u back here again

Cheers OZ

Thanks! For the record, i never left.

[adic88]

great video to watch... interesting, when he tears off the portion of the bunch, most of the leftover leaves go to the foot of the cigar... so that the composition/ratio of the blend really differs depending on where in a cigar you are. seems like a plausible explanation to why some of the cigars flavors "change"...

For a comparison, see how a Davidoff master roller, Pablo Ramon, makes his cigars.

I've witnessed Hamlet's style, Morales' as well. And they each have their own way of "blending" the leaf.

[nonameno]

Hi Aizuddin,

What a wonderful experience! I read some more of what you had to say about that evening on your blog. I thought you were very well spoken with thoughtful, kind and respectful remarks. The cigar community really is very small, and it is so nice to see many people around the world sharing their joy and passion with each other.

Thank you for sharing,

Curtiss

[adic88]

Hi Aizuddin,

What a wonderful experience! I read some more of what you had to say about that evening on your blog. I thought you were very well spoken with thoughtful, kind and respectful remarks. The cigar community really is very small, and it is so nice to see many people around the world sharing their joy and passion with each other.

Thank you for sharing,

Curtiss

Cheers, mate.

[dB69]

Thanks for sharing, Aizuddin!

[mazolaman]

Interesting stuff Aizuddin, cheers.

[riazp]

great stuff, thank you for sharing