Buffalo Trace Toro

There are many classic pairings out there: peanut butter and jelly, chips and salsa, spaghetti and meatballs, etc. Well the people at Buffalo Trace, who have over 200 years of experience in the distilling business, also thought of another classic pairing: bourbon and cigars! In pursuit of this, they set out to make their own perfect cigar to match their world famous bourbon, and the exceptional result is what you have in your shipment today. The cigar comes dressed in an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper with a Brazilian Arapiraca binder, and is chock full of aged Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan long-filler tobaccos. Once lit, expect medium notes of cedar, cashews, and leather with hints of vanilla. Our panel raved about this cigar and suggested pairing with it with nothing other than Buffalo Trace bourbon.

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.