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As recently as Thirty years ago, if you were asked to name a country that produced extremely high-quality premium cigars, you would have struggled to name one, other than Cuba.
After all, Cuba was the only major player in the field and was (and still is) a country with an instantly recognisable array of different brands that have been around, in some cases, for centuries. Life was simpler then!
Today, however, if you were asked the very same question, I am sure that your answer would be quite different as there are now several countries that are producing cigars that give the old guard a real run for their money. Perched at the top of this list would be the Central American Republic of Nicaragua.
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Bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south (two other cigar-producing countries) Nicaragua is blessed with some of the finest soils in which to grow tobacco.
In fact, many of the former Cubans who made Nicaragua their home and started making cigars there said it was as good as the Pinar del Rio region of Cuba.
Added to those fertile soils is the climate, which again offers near-perfect conditions. Although the climate is near perfect, there is the danger of the odd hurricane, which can have an effect of the tobacco crops, destroying harvests.
Nicaragua is a very small country with a population of around 7m, and also very poor. Over the years it has had its fair share of political upheaval, swinging between dictatorships and rebellions on a frequent basis.
Over the years these swings of political fortune have detrimentally affected the economy which in turn affected Cigar production with, in many cases, factories and businesses closing.
Presently the picture is quite different as Nicaragua has one of the best-performing economies in Central America, although it would need a sustained period of growth to negate the past performance.
This period of growth has led to some big investments in both the factories and the people as Nicaragua races to capitalise on the current cigar boom, which shows no sign of abating. Currently, around 110,000 people are employed in the Nicaraguan cigar industry – which taking all things into account is pretty impressive.
Although tobacco has been cultivated since before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in 1519, it wasn’t until the 1940’s that production started to increase as tobacco was grown for cigarette production.
These early plantations were situated around the towns of Esteli and Condega in the north of the country, which in the future, would become very important.
It wasn’t until the late 50’s when the Cuban revolution was at its height, that many of the former Cuban farmers and tobacco growers arrived in Nicaragua to live.
Slowly, over time, these more experienced tobacco farmers started making, on a small scale initially, cigars.
Esteli, situated in the valleys of the north-central mountains, is not only the name of Nicaragua’s second-largest city but is also where most of the cigar factories and companies are based and is also the largest of the tobacco producing areas in the country.
Home to such famous names as Drew Estate (the picture here is from the Drew Estate court yard), Oliva and Joya De Nicaragua, who were the first to set up a factory there in 1968. Esteli is serviced by the Pan-American Highway, the world’s longest network of connected roads (approximately 11,000 miles!) which makes it perfect for the transportation of the precious cargoes of cigars.
The soils in Esteli are rich and minerally and can produce tobaccos that are earthy and spicy with some being quite aromatic. It is from Estéli where some of the most highly sought-after Ligero leaves emanate from. These incredibly full bodied tobaccos can add an amazing amount of depth to the cigars it is made with.
Condega
Further north than Esteli and we see a change in the soil types from the rich and minerally of Esteli, to more stony. Unlike Esteli, a lot of the tobacco grown here is grown under shade, which means the leaves are a bit more delicate. Approximately 70% of all tobacco grown here is used as filler tobaccos, although some plantations where the yields are darker in colour will be used for wrapper leaves. The tobacco here will tend to be full-bodied and earthy with some sweetness and perhaps showing a decent hit of spice.
Jalapa
Jalapa is an area famed for its wrapper leaf production. Situated in the very north of the country, near the border with Honduras it can be a relatively tricky place to get to as once you leave the longest road in the world (the Pan-American highway) the road conditions become treacherous and very difficult. The soils here are extremely rich and fertile which in turn produces tobaccos that are elegantly smooth and silky and lighter in body. A high proportion of the tobacco grown here is used for wrappers as they are near perfect in appearance.
Ometepe
Named after the volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe produces some incredible tobaccos that are very strong in flavour being quite sweet and toasty. They are full-bodied too, but it would take a very skilled blender to create cigars that feature a high proportion of Ometepe tobaccos, as they can leave a very minerally taste on the palate – possibly down to the fact that the tobaccos themselves are grown on the bases of two volcanoes, Concepcion (which is still active) and Maderas. This area is the smallest of the main tobacco-producing regions.
Namaji
The newest of the Nicaraguan tobacco growing areas, but one that is not readily available (as far as I am aware) in any cigars currently sold in the UK. About a decade ago, Jose Garcia and his son Jaime started planting tobacco on 100 acres of private land near the town of Namaji, east of Estéli. Most of the tobacco has been shade-grown and has been used for wrapper leaves. The result is by all accounts, extremely good! Watch this space.
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