Alec Bradley V2L Black Toro

Alan Rubin, the founder of Alec Bradley cigars, has been blending and producing cigars since 1997 that have 90+ ratings from Cigar Aficionado, Cigar Insider, and Cigar Journal, just to name a few. His cigars also consistently make Cigar Aficionado’s annual Top 25 list, making his cigars some of the most sought out in the industry. If you don’t know where the name Alec Bradley came from, look no farther than Alan’s two sons, Alec and Bradley, who are now partnering with their father in the family business. One of their newer editions to their portfolio is the V2L Black. We know it sounds like something you’ll find under a hood of a car but instead it’s a palate pleaser ready to rev up your senses. Popping the hood, so to speak, you’ll find a delicious core of two Viso and two Ligero long-fillers from four different farms in Honduras wrapped up in a Honduran binder and a toothy Nicaraguan wrapper. Look for notes of oak, spice, and earth, with hints of pepper at the end. Medium to full in body, pair this smoke with a milk stout.

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.