Avant Garde Legrand

For over 150 years, the Bailey family of Virginia has cultivated some the finest tobacco available. For five generations, the family has only used old-school methods to select and cure all their tobaccos to ensure consistency and flavor and to deliver premium cigars. Their premium cigar company, Cornelius & Anthony, makes their Avant Garde line in the Dominican Republic, where these medium to full bodied handmades are imparted with a blend of Cuban-seed Dominican long-fillers, a Connecticut Broadleaf as a binder, and an oily and handsome Brazilian Habano wrapper to finish. Once lit, balanced flavors of spice, coffee, earth, cedar, and some subtle peppery notes will take over your palate. Pair it with a Scotch.

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.