Cojimar Private Collection Maduro XO

This one of a kind stogie comes from the mastermind Kaizad Hansotia; you might not be able to say it three times fast, but the name has rapidly swept through the cigar industry. Known as the master blender behind the tremendous Gurkha brand, he's admired for his mastery of fine tobacco blending and creativity in developing attractive packaging for his cigars. The Cojimar Private Collection Maduro is named after the famed fishing village, Cojimar, right outside Havana, Cuba. This Cuban-esque handmade has Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran long-fillers, a Dominican binder, and a Dominican Broadleaf Maduro wrapper. Medium to full bodied, toast it up and find hints of chocolate, earth, slight spice, and leather. Pair this stogie with a chardonnay.

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.