Dominican custom rolled cigars?

[helix]

In Puerto Plata there are a couple of small shops/factories making cigars. Has anyone tried these ? 

Espigon Cigar Shop

Vivonte Cigar Factory & Lounge

Fabrica de Cigarros Monseñor de Puerto Plata

Will be trying their cigars when in DR in Jan. The standard to compare against for my profile preference of DR cigars is Arturo Fuente Don Carlos and most likely be hauling back a few boxes of them , lol, but who knows may be surprised.

[fisherclive]

Vivonte are pretty good, I don't remember which one I had, but it was enjoyable 

[helix]

The Vivonte factory cigars are wonderful. Not sure how much I can speak on this subject here however.

[Puros Y Vino]

9 minutes ago, therealrsr said:

I was wondering about something related the other day.  Have any of these boutique rollers in DR, Nicaragua, etc. scored big blend/roller talent leaving Cuba?  It would definitely put them on my radar.  We hear where the stars wind up, but I have to beleive there is a second tier of exceptionally qualified persons. 

[Corylax18]

2 hours ago, Puros Y Vino said:

Everyone knows Dennis Castro had the best palate of all the brothers. 

[Capn_Jackson]

5 hours ago, therealrsr said:

I was wondering about something related the other day.  Have any of these boutique rollers in DR, Nicaragua, etc. scored big blend/roller talent leaving Cuba?  It would definitely put them on my radar.  We hear where the stars wind up, but I have to beleive there is a second tier of exceptionally qualified persons. 

I’ve had this same thought, numerous times. Several years ago I had a colleague whose uncle used to be in Cuba. He got out of there, and was doing custom blends and rolling somewhere in north Texas. I don’t know the name, but often wish I had found out his contact info 🙁

[Corylax18]

8 hours ago, therealrsr said:

I was wondering about something related the other day.  Have any of these boutique rollers in DR, Nicaragua, etc. scored big blend/roller talent leaving Cuba?  It would definitely put them on my radar.  We hear where the stars wind up, but I have to beleive there is a second tier of exceptionally qualified persons. 

There isn't/wasn't really much "big blend/roller talent" and what is there rarely leaves. These guys have access to tourist, AKA foriegn currency. So their lives in Cuba are as good as they can be.

Each factory has one blender, its an extremely coveted job that affords a much better life than a regular Cuban. Those guys aren't leaving to sit in some cigar shop for an hourly wage, they would be stupid to. 

I can literally count the number of Famous rollers that have left Cuba on one hand. Only a single one of those has significantly improved their quality of life by leaving the country. I know a handful of less famous guys that are here and they're doing fine, but they aren't minting money. Whether famous or not, the DR and Nicaragua don't offer much, if any more earning potential than Cuba would. 

2 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

I’ve had this same thought, numerous times. Several years ago I had a colleague whose uncle used to be in Cuba. He got out of there, and was doing custom blends and rolling somewhere in north Texas. I don’t know the name, but often wish I had found out his contact info 🙁

Cuban Tobacco is MUCH easier to blend than Non Cuban. It's like having access to the buffalo trace ageing warehouse vs blending Canadian mist and Jack Daniels. You almost have to F#ck it up to get a bad result when you're blending the good stuff. I've blended Cuban tobacco before and I didn't blow it, so it can't be that hard. 😄

[LordAnubis]

14 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

Cuban Tobacco is MUCH easier to blend than Non Cuban. It's like having access to the buffalo trace ageing warehouse vs blending Canadian mist and Jack Daniels. You almost have to F#ck it up to get a bad result when you're blending the good stuff. I've blended Cuban tobacco before and I didn't blow it, so it can't be that hard. 😄

This is a very interesting statement. And one I tried to ask Hamlet in one of the blending sessions poorly. To me it’s like this. You’re making lunch. You have chicken, potatoes and bread. Should be pretty easy to make a decent lunch that pretty much anyone in the world will enjoy. Second scenario. You have an elephant testicle, some buffalo urine, and ugali. I’m sure you can make some exquisite delicacy with that but generally 99% of the world would not eat/like it. That’s what I imagine the comparison is. Cuban tobacco is the regular chicken sanga. 

[Bigkahuna]

15 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

This is a very interesting statement. And one I tried to ask Hamlet in one of the blending sessions poorly. To me it’s like this. You’re making lunch. You have chicken, potatoes and bread. Should be pretty easy to make a decent lunch that pretty much anyone in the world will enjoy. Second scenario. You have an elephant testicle, some buffalo urine, and ugali. I’m sure you can make some exquisite delicacy with that but generally 99% of the world would not eat/like it. That’s what I imagine the comparison is. Cuban tobacco is the regular chicken sanga. 

Interesting. When completely blind testing, 90% of smokers have proven to not be able to consistently tell what country of origin a cigar is. Placebos and psychosomatic responses are powerful. If you are old enough to remember the Pepsi/coke challenge of the early 80s It was a 50/50 guess. Historically I believe coke said the years long effort yielded 56% correct guesses. My point is that when all labels and markings are removed nearly all smokers can’t tell origin at all. 

[LordAnubis]

@Bigkahuna while I am strongly of the nobody knows anything bandwagon, that’s not my point above. It was that the ingredients, Cuban tobacco, is generally easier and more palatable to most no matter how it’s blended. Where as NCs is not as a palatable unless blended well. That’s my theory anyway. The chicken sandwich. 

[Ford2112]

I'm smoking an elephant testicle right now!

[KCCubano]

5 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

I'm smoking an elephant testicle right now!

Could you tell country of origin?

[Ford2112]

2 hours ago, KCCubano said:

Could you tell country of origin?

Prickadilly 🎪 circus